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A course in human biology for Santa Rosa Junior College.

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A course in human biology for Santa Rosa Junior College.

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Content A COURSE IN HUMAN BIOLOGY FOR
SANTA ROSA JUNIOR COLLEGE
A Project
Presented to
the Faculty of the School of Education
The University of Southern California
In Partial Fulfillment
of the Requirements for the Degree
Master of Science in Education
by
Ellis W. Nixon
August 1953
UMI Number: EP47608
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This project report, w ritte n under the direction
o f the candidate’s adviser and approved by him ,
has been presented to and accepted by the F a cu lty
o f the School of E ducation in p a rtia l fu lfillm e n t of
the requirements fo r the degree of M a ste r of
Science in Education.
Date. p-uQ, 2.1 , / ? 4>3.............................
A d vise r
Dean
TABLE OP CONTENTS
CHAPTER PAGE
PART ONE
THE PROBLEM: EDUCATIONAL CONSIDERATIONS
I. THE PROBLEM...................... 2
Introduction ......................... 2
The problem.................... 4
Statement of the problem ........... 4
Background of the problem ..... 5
The general basis for the Junior
College program ................. 5
Trends in science teaching ........ . 8
The place of General Education in
Biological Science in the Junior
College.............. 13
A definition of General Education . . 18
Biological Science: its educational
value and importance . . . ........ 21
General objectives ................. 23
Specific objectives ............... 23
Method of procedure and delimitation . 26
Organization of the remainder of the
project....................... 27
iv
CHAPTER PAGE
II. REVIEW OP THE LITERATURE ON THE SUBJECT 29
-The nature of the-need to be met by
more adequate seienee courses . . . 29
Characteristics of the General
Education which is to provide more
adequate science courses ........... 34
Justification for training the whole
personality ............. 34
Justification for emphasis on the
methods of science, and the prob
lem approach to teaching ........ 39
Justification for the manner of
relating method and content . . . 4?
Justification for frequent reference
to the history ©f science .... 50
Justification for course content
being from human biology........ 52
Evaluation of General Education science
Instruction....................... 53
Summary of literature review ........ 57
III; SOME CONSIDERATIONS RELATING TO
INSTRUCTIONAL PROCEDURE ........... . 59
BIBLIOGRAPHY .................................. 65
V
CHAPTER PAGE
PART TWO
THE COURSE OP STUDY
Acknowledgements .......... 77
IV. SOME ASPECTS OF THE EARLY EMBRYOLOGY OP
MAN ................... 78
V. THE BLOOD VASCULAR SYSTEM, THE GREAT
INTEGRATOR............................ 92
VI. THE NEED FOR STUDY OP THE ORGANISM AS A
WHOLE, AS SHOWN BY: A— THE WORK ON
DIABETES MELLITUS ................... 100
VII. THE NEED FOR STUDY OP MAN AS A WHOLE, AS
SHOWN BY: B— THE HORMONES IN HUMAN
REPRODUCTION......................... 112
VIII. SOME RELATIONSHIPS OP HEREDITY AND
EVOLUTION TO M A N ..................... 125
IX. MAN IN RELATION TO SOME BIOLOGICAL
ASPECTS OP ATOMIC ENERGY ............. 13^
X. SOME ASPECTS OP DISEASE IN RELATION TO
M A N .................................. 1^6
XI. MAN AND SOME SOCIAL ASPECTS OF MEDICAL
CARE......................... 170
vl
CHAPTER PACE
PART THREE
EVALUATION
XII. SOME PROPOSALS REGARDING EVALUATION . . l8l
LIST OF TABLES
TABLE PAQE
I. The Living Organisms Which Are
Etiologic Agents of Human Disease . . 147
II. Action of Chemical Disinfectants .... 160
LIST OP DIAGRAMS
DIAGRAM
1. Hormonal Control of Blood Sugar
PART ONE
THE PROBLEM: EDUCATIONAL CONSIDERATIONS
CHAPTER I
THE PROBLEM
I. INTRODUCTION
This study was concerned with the outlining of a
proposed course in Human Biology (in the framework of
General Education) for the Santa Rosa Junior College.
The course in Human Biology is to he given the
second semester, and is to follow (ideally) the course
in Principles of Biology, the latter being a four-unit
course, with two lecture-demonstration hours and two
three-hour laboratory-discussion periods -each week.
The course in Principles of Biology was designed
primarily for non-biology majors; terminal students;
students interested in Natural History, agricultural
plants and animals; and students desiring to satisfy
science requirements of the State Colleges. Plants and
animals are considered together. Biological principles,
often based on comparative organization and function of
plants and animals, are the basis for developing topics
of the course. The course provides topics and individual
problems related to the natural history of plants and
animals of the agricultural and seashore areas of this
portion of California. Gardiner’s The Principles of
General Biology is used as a text; but the text is sup
plemented by many library references.
Human Biology is to be a four-unit course: two
lecture-demonstration hours, and three two-hour labora-
tory-discussion periods each week. The leeture-demon- -
stration hours will be in charge of an instructor whose
background is largely in the medical sciences. In the
laboratory-discussion periods the instructor in charge
of the course will be assisted by a botanist and a
bacteriologist.
The course in Human Biology will not include such
topics as: the cell doctrine, the structure of proto
plasm, the structure and physiology of the green plant,
phases of Natural History, etc., which were considered
in Principles of Biology. However, Human Biology will
be open to students who have had no previous courses
in Biology. It is believed that the first topic, "The
Embryology of Man," will afford adequate background in
respect to the following: cell, mitosis, tissue, organ,
and organ system.
Human Biology will stress the understanding of
basic biological concepts, the methods of science, and
practice in the application of these methods. It is to
be organized around a structure of the life cycle of
man, and the blood— the principal integrator of man's
organ systems.
It is believed that frequent reference to: the
basic medical sciences and medicine, to historical and
social relationships, as well as to accomplishments and
limitations in respect to the topics considered can best
meet student needs and emphasize the importance of bi
ology to the every-day life of the student.
II. THE PROBLEM
Statement of the problem. It was realized that
many of the students enrolled in Human Biology would have
had no previous formal training in biology; and that for
many of them Human Biology would be the only formal
course in this field. Awareness of students' needs and
interests, concern for what contributions might come
from the environment, and a regard for the background
of those who would be charged with the responsibility of
instructing the students were recognized as major factors
to be considered throughout the development of the course
outline. It was believed that such awareness could best
lead to a course providing maximal opportunity for
5
development of student understandings, interests, atti
tudes and appreciations, and for possible continuing
growth of these aspects of life.
In view of the introductory statement and the
considerations of the above paragraph, the purpose of
this study was to construct an outline for a course in
Human Biology (within the framework of General Education)>
using the life cycle of man and the functional integra
tion of his organ systems as the structure for achieving
the objectives specifically listed in a later portion
of this study.
Background of the problem. It was believed that
perspective for this study could be gained by consider
ing: (l) the general basis for the Junior College pro
gram; (2) trends in science teaching; (3) the place of
General Education in biological science in the Junior
College; and (4) the functional inadequacy of the tra
ditional courses in biological science.
The general basis for the Junior College program.
The program of the Junior College has been Justified
most adequately by reference to philosophy, to psychology,
and to the functions of the Junior College program.
1. A philosophical basis recognizes the dignity
of the individual, in the realm of Christianity; in which
we desire to be highly democratic, and, therefore, to
provide all the education possible, for all people,
through all of life.1
2. A psychological basis provides the under
standing that adults continue to learn at a high level;
and that there are many types of intelligence— all of
which are beneficial to society and worthy of complete
2
development. Further, the work of Grata shows that
transfer of identical elements (Thorndike) occurs to
an extent of about thirty per cent, and that conscious
generalization (Judd) to an extent of about seventy
per cent. So we should train for application, general
ization, relationships, and the methods of science.
3- The functions of the Junior College are well
3
stated by Sexson and Harbeson:
To prepare university parallel students for
future work at the university;
Tb prepare university parallel students,
through general and vocational education, for
John Dewey, Democracy and Education (New York:
The Macmillan Company, 193?)> PP* 375-7#.
2
Pedro T. Orata, Recent Research Studies on
Transfer of Training with Implications for the Curriculum,
Guidance and Personnel Work," Journal of Educational Re
search, Vol. 35, October 1941, pp. 81-5^.
3
John A. Sexson and John W. Harbeson, The New
American College (New York: Harper and Brothers, 19^6),
pp. 48-65"
7
immediate entrance into the world of business
and industry;
To serve the entire population of the commun
ity by bringing educational and cultural oppor
tunities within the reach of all the people;
To provide guidance and counsel for people
throughout adult life;
To provide recreation and profitable methods
of utilizing leisure time, through creative ac
tivities of young and old alike;
To develop citizens with a social point of
view and social attitudes capable of functioning
in a democratic society;
To develop citizens activated by a sound
philosophy of life;
To develop self-dependent men and women, cap
able of working out their own highest self-
realization.
The philosophy of the Junior College science pro
gram should be guided by the democratic way of life and
should emphasize the ideals of maximal development of
the individual, cooperation (even where interests are
diverse), and faith in intelligence as the method by which
4
to solve our problems.
There must be opportunity for teacher-student
planning to: (l) learn student needs and interests,
(2) set up criteria for worthwhile group problems, (3)
Dewey, op. cit., pp. 37^-376.
8
provide opportunity for examination of several problems,
(4) provide for cooperative choice of the best experience,
(5) care for minority interests; (6) provide many group
experiences in problem solution; and (7) provide for
evaluation of work in the light of such democratic goals
as: understandings, tolerance, cooperation, growth in
5
reflective thinking, and social sensitivity.
If education is conceived of as a progressive
organization and reorganization of experience by the
individual into increasingly larger patterns of meaning,
6
it is to be a continuous process. And the school, in
devising the curriculum, should start, not with subject
matter, but rather with the needs and interests (both
personal and social needs and interests, considered in
the light of the democratic way of life) of the indi
vidual .
III. TRENDS IN SCIENCE TEACHING
Very frequently the needs of the individual have
been given little or no consideration in the development
of the science program.
5 Harold Alberty, Reorganizing the High School
Curriculum (New York: The Macmillan Company, 194?)j
pp.' 227-275.
6
Dewey, op. clt., pp. 375-377*
7
Powers reviewed the three motives which have
led to changes in the secondary school science curriculum
since 1890* He found that a leading motive was the need
for some degree of standardization of the secondary sci
ence curriculum. This was largely a college entrance
problem. The work of the Committee of Ten of the Nation
al Education Association (1893-1899) to ^he establish-
8
ment of the College Entrance Examination Board, which
tended to fix the experiments of high school Chemistry
and Physics, and to the formulation of a single Biology
course--by combining content from several life sciences.
Thus, there was little consideration of the needs of
others than the very few students who were later to
enter college or university work.
9
Stout found that Chemistry and Physics tended
to change little in content and methods, even into the
1920's. In Biology, emphasis shifted from "facts" to
"principles." And, in 1918, the major aim of science
^ Samuel Ralph Powers, "Science Education,"
Encyclopedia of Educational Research, Revised edition,
Walter S. Monroe, editor (New Ifork: The Macmillan
Company, 1950)* P* 1133*
8
Report of the Committee on College Entrance
Requirements (AdcTresses and Proceedings ofthe National
Education Association, 1899), pp. 632-816.
9
J. E. Stout, "The Development of High School
Curricula in the North Central States from 1860-1918,"
Supplementary Educational Monographs, No. 15 (University
of Chicago, 1921), pp. 148-173.
teaching was found to have shifted from "knowledge” to
"mental discipline." This led to dissatisfaction and the
development of the concept of General Science.
10
Powers found that the need to adapt science
content and teaching to all students--i.e., the democratic
ideal— was a second motive leading to change in the sec
ondary school science curriculum. This motive was much
emphasized by the Committee on Reorganization of Science
11
in the Secondary Schools, in 1920. The Committee
specifically pointed out that the logically organized
content of the usual science course was not related to
the needs and interests of most students. And the Com
mittee especially favored grouping science subjects into
broad fields, and the relating of these broad field
courses to industry, the home, agriculture, etc. Yet, It
was not until after the work of the Committee of the
National Society for the Study of Education, and the pub-
12
lication of the Thirty-first Yearbook of that Society
10
Powers, op. eit., p. 1135-
11 „
Reorganization of Science in Secondary Schools"
Report of the Committee on the Reorganization of Secondary !
Education (Washington, D.C.: United States Office of
Education, Bulletin No. 26, 1920).
12
"A Program for Teaching Science," Thirty-first j
Yearbook of the National Society for the Study of Educa
tion, PaVF"l7~T932, pp. 1-370. ”
11
in 1932 that there has been a strong trend toward group
ing science subjects into broad fields, relating these
more directly to the interests and needs of the students,
and a rather complete rejection of the idea of "mental
discipline" as a criterion for the selection of subject
matter.
13
Powers found the study of teaching practices
and results (which greatly increased after the Report of
the Committee on Reorganization of Science) to be the
third motive which led to changes in the science curric
ulum since 1890. A few examples might clarify the mean-
14 ,
ing of this motive. Richards found Biology (during
the 1920's) to be lacking in any uniformity of content,
15
and often not presented as a unified whole. Noll
showed individual laboratory experiments in inorganic .
chemistry to be superior to group-laboratory experiments
and to lecture-demonstrations (and suggested that the
16
earlier testing devices were invalid). Johnson found
^ Powers, op. cit., pp. 1138-41.
^ Owen W. Richards, "The Present Content of Bi-
iology in Secondary Schools," School Review, 31:143-46,
September, 1923*
15
Virgil H. Noll, Laboratory Instructions in the
Field of Inorganic Chemistry (Minneapolis: University of
Minnesota Press, 1930), pp. 104-108.
Palmer 0. Johnson, Curricular Problems in
Science at the College Level (Minneapolis'; University of
Minnesota Press, 1930), pp. 116-121.
12
elementary botany to have no preparatory value for the
study of Agriculture or Forestry.
In science at the college and university level,
one trend has led toward greater specialization— e.g.,
Biochemical Genetics and Nuclear Physics, etc. And there
has also been a marked trend toward science courses in
the framework of General Education — i.e., courses which
aim to restore meaningful and intelligent unity in higher
education.^
During the 1920's and 1930's the General Education
program was carried on largely through the medium of the
superficial, subject-centered survey course. The trend
has been to replace survey courses with courses which
treat intensively a few selected topics, laws, or problems.
Courses of the latter type usually draw material from
several biological sciences, or from several physical
sciences, or the course may be built on the "case method"
with history as a unifying principle, and cutting across
all fields of knowledge. If the broad courses are divided
into biological and physical areas, the trend is toward
demanding a broad course from each of the two areas.
17
Wesley N. Tiffney, "The Science Program in
Boston University General College," Science in General
Education, Earl J. McGrath, editor (Dubuque,“Towa: TEe
William S. Brown Company, 19^8), p. 171*
13
Most schools require no prerequisites for admission to
these courses. Most institutions ask completion of the
general courses during the first year or two; however,
there are schools (e.g., Harvard) whieh stipulate that
the general courses shall continue through four years of
18
college.
IV. THE PLACE OP GENERAL EDUCATION IN BIOLOGICAL
SCIENCE IN THE JUNIOR COLLEGE
Some study was given to the very extensive litera
ture relating to General Education and to the place of
General Education, properly, in instruction in biological
science.
Historically, the development of the General Edu
cation movement in the United States appears to have been
as follows: The Free Elective System (although of value
because of-its recognition of individual differences and
because of the additions it brought to the curriculum)
led to such lack of synthesis in college programs that a
system involving an ’ ’area of concentration" plus a "field
of distribution" (the latter to provide synthesis) became
widely adopted. However*) both courses and university
ift
Earl J. McGrath, "Trends in Science Courses in
General Education," Science in General Education, op. cit.,
pp. 381-400. ;
14
departments continued to be added, especially for utili
tarian motives, and chance for a liberal education became
increasingly remote. So General Education has come (in
part, at least) as an effort toward synthesis— as an at
tempt to achieve some integration and "transmission of a
19
common cultural heritage toward a common citizenship.”
20
Pace outlines that modern technology has been
made possible by utilizing the knowledge of fundamental
research; that our society is characterized by instant
communication and mass transportation; that research and
technology have changed our intellectual climate; that
we are forced to reconsider the meaning of ideas and the
organization of knowledge and experience; that the prob
lems of the General Education movement are inclusive of
human welfare, human relations, of values and integra
tions ; that General Education is exploring new combina
tions of knowledge and new integrations; that, as stated
by the President's Commission on Higher Education, the
purposes of General Education should be understood in
19
Luella Cole, The Background for College
Teaching (New York: Farrar and Rinehart, Inc., 1940),
pp. 3b-b4.
20
C. Robert Pace, An Introduction," Organization
and Administration of General Education, W. H. Stickler,
editor (Dubuque, Iowa: William C. Brown Company, 1951),
pp. 1-12.
15
terms of performance and behavior, and not in mere mastery
of particular bodies of knowledge. Therefore, the objec
tives of General Education have two important character
istics, viz., they are not a catalogue of academic dis
ciplines, and they are phrased in terms of expected
behavior.
Pace suggests further that the formulation of
a program for implementing the objectives of General Edu
cation should keep both function (the purposes and nature
of General Education) and structure (the organization and
administration of General Education) in mind, and that
two problems are involved:
1. To reorganize knowledge.
2. To devise an administration in college to
promote the development of knowledge.
And he tells us that there have been three varieties of
effort to find structure for function, as follows:
1. New courses or revised old courses.
2. Interdepartmental organization.
3- Independent organization— e.g., the College
of the University of Chicago.
V. THE FUNCTIONAL INADEQUACY OF THE TRADITIONAL
COURSES IN' BIOLOGICAL SCIENCE
Regarding the need for General Education, Eurich
i states:
. . . a common concern underlies all efforts to
stress General Education regardless of different
emphasis. This concern grows from; dissatisfac
tion of higher education as now organized; reac
tion against overspecialization in colleges; the
youth problem In society; a deeper desire to make
Education more effective— perhaps that the future
can better solve social problems. These factors
have led to a new period in college education
with a return to General Education, an emphasis
on adjustment of work to the individual, and a
substitution of a field of concentration for the
Major.2
Much information has shown rather clearly that
for any except the student who is to specialize in some
field of biological science, a course based on the fac
tual, taxonomic approach is not reasonable for several
reasons; (a) little is gained from a course of this
type as to the methods of science or its impact on modern
is mostly directed into medicine and agriculture. This,
coupled with frequent lack of interest, will cause sub
ject matter to be largely forgotten. Also, subject
matter alone could not possibly be given adequate cover
age in the time allotted to the course.
21
A. C. Eurich, "General Education in the
American College,” Thirty-eighth Yearbook of the National
Society for the Study of Educa/ETon,' PartITT 1939, pp.
biological subject matter
Recent Information concerning both the actual
and potential Junior College population of Sonoma County
gave much reason to believe that the Junior College pro
gram should be less traditional if it were to meet stu
dent needs and interests.
The results of the American College Entrance
tests administered to students entering Santa Rosa
Junior College indicated that two-thirds of these stu
dents fell below the fiftieth percentile (as calculated
nationally for four-year colleges), and that one-third
of the students fell between the fiftieth and ninety-
ninth percentile. The mean for Santa Rosa Junior Col
lege students is at the thirty-fifth percentile. There
was a large group of students who scored between zero
and ten on the American College Entrance Psychological
22
Test.
There were 793 graduates from Sonoma County high
schools in 1951* Of these, 11.7 per cent were in some
branch of the Armed Services, while 31 per cent were
working. And, as has been true for the past six years,
only about 39 per cent of high school graduates were
23
continuing with school work at this time.
__
Floyd P. Bailey, "Annual Report of the President
of Santa Rosa Junior College, 1951-1952," p. 2.
23
Ibid., p. 4.
18 i
A chfeck of the programs of the students who have
graduated, and also of those of the fifty per cent which
did not graduate during the past five years showed that
only about thirty per cent have taken even one course in
biological science. Of those who took one or more courses
only eight per cent are majors in some field of biologi
cal science. These facts, along with the conviction
that all students could profit from some biological
training, have led to a review of what is being done by
other institutions in relation to development of biologi- i
cal science courses within the framework of General
Education.
VI. A DEFINITION OF GENERAL EDUCATION
Many statements regarding the objectives of Gen
eral Education have been made, all of them phrased pretty
much the same. Boston University’s General College bulle-j
tin states that the purpose of the General College is "to ;
restore meaningful and intelligent unity to collegiate
24
training with relation to the world in which we live."
25
The Harvard Report emphasized that effective thinking,
24
"The Philosophy of the General College of Boston
University," Boston University Bulletin, Boston, 1948,
pp. 11-13- —
^ The Harvard Committee, General Education in a
Free Society (Cambridge: Harvard University Press,~T91T5),
p. 64.
19
ability to make relevant judgments, and to discriminate
among values, are among the abilities to be sought above
others.
Yet, in reviewing numerous college programs, it
is found that some offer courses which seem possibly
surprising in a college curriculum— e.g., "Folk Dancing"
and "Flower Arrangement" as a part of a General Educa
tion program.' It might be wondered whether even Smith,
26
Stanley and Shore's definition of General Education as
an attempt at "clarification of the democratic value
system" is broad enough to allow admission of such sub
jects to the college program.
27
Perhaps MacLean in his pages on there being no
real conflict between the "Theory of Combining and Syn
thesis" (said to transmit culture) and the "Theory of
Needs" (stated to include economic competence) has some
hope of reconciling inclusion of such subjects in a
28
program of General Education. Or should Cowley in his
26
B. 0. Smith, William 0. Stanley, and J. Harlan
Shores, Fundamentals of Curriculum ^Development (New York:
World Book Company, 1^50), p. Il2.
27
Malcolm S. MacLean "Conflicting Theories of
General Education," The American College, P. F. Valentine,
editor (New York: The Philosophical Library, 1949)* PP«
92-114.
oft
W. H. Cowley, "Education for Quality," The
American College, P. F. Valentine, editor (New York:
The Philosophical Library, 1949), PP* 123-34.
20
consideration of "Functionalists" and "Universalists"
be suggesting the possibility of such reconciliation?
29
Bogue would have our General Education program en
deavor to have the student gain a level of intellectual
and emotional maturity needed to answer the questions of
life. This certainly demands something of the Univer
salists1 point of view (and training) as well as meet
ing the "Here and Now” of the Functionalists. Unques
tionably, there is superficiality in the subjects men
tioned in the preceding paragraph, and it could hardly
be Imagined that the General Education program at
Harvard or Chicago would include such topics.
30
Johnson, in General Education in Action, after
recognizing that General Education involves a ". . search
for unity, for synthesis, a recognition of common needs
and opportunities," concludes that General Education is
too varied to be defined in one statement. Those workers
agreed that General Education could only be described by
listing twelve objectives, based upon the needs of
29
Jesse Parker Bogue, The Community College
(New York: The McGraw-Hill Book Company, Inc., 1950)*
p. 164.
30
B. Lamar Johnson, Director of the Study, Gen
eral Education in Action (Washington, D.C.: American
Council on Education, 1952), p. 19.
21
students.
VII. BIOLOGICAL SCIENCE: ITS EDUCATIONAL VALUE
AND IMPORTANCE
There has been considerable emphasis throughout
earlier parts of this report in regard to the "needs"
of students being basic to the formulation of curricu
lum objectives. It was also emphasized that these
"needs" are both personal and social and that they
should be approached along lines of a democratic phi
losophy of life.
Whether favor be granted to such a listing of
needs as those of the Educational Policies Commission—
viz., that education should prepare all youth for: (l)
social responsibility, (2) family life, (3) effective
communication, (4) enjoyment of the arts, (5) ethical
31
insight, and (6) self reliance --or some other listing
(e.g., the Cardinal Principles of Secondary Education),
there must be constant awareness that: (l) formal
education is only one factor among many which educate
youth, and (2) such social realities as atomic' power,
war, developing of a World Order, bring changes in our
_
Educational Policies Commission, Education for
All American Youth (Washington, D.C.: National Educa
tion Association, 1§44), p. 6.
22
culture, and these changes make necessary a constant
re-evaluation of "needs.1 1
32
Brink states that:
. . . a need is anything essential for promoting
the growth and development of the individual,
physically, mentally, spiritually, emotionally,
and socially. And . . . our knowledge of the
growth characteristics of youth, of the learning
process, and of the characteristics of our so
ciety provide the soundest foundation for ascer
taining youth needs and building a program for
them.
The guidance records for each student, and some
eight years of experience in this area of California,
have given considerable knowledge of the students enter
ing Santa Rosa Junior College, and of their environment.
Especially is there an awareness of the great range in
student abilities and capacities. Much more exact
knowledge exists as to facilities for instruction, and
of faculty members who will be participating in the in
struction. There is a desire to maintain a constant
awareness of the broad democratic objectives (as out
lined in the President's Commission on Higher Education).
With such considerations in mind, a set of somewhat gen
eral objectives have been formulated, together with a
set of more specific objectives. Both lists, it is
32
W. G. Brink, quotation taken from material
being prepared for publication.
anticipated, will be subjected to continuous revision
and extension, especially in the light of future ex
perience.
General objectives:
1. To cultivate an appreciation of the methods
of science, and to give some practice in the
use of these methods.
2. To cultivate a philosophical, analytical, and
critical habit of mind toward all aspects of
life and "reality."
3. To create interest in Biological Science, and
a desire to know more about the subject.
4. To relate the problems and concepts studied
to a wide range of human ideas and experiences
5. To aid in understanding the background of
present-day civilization, for this Is the
basis from which most problems— political,
religious, social, and philos;ophical-~proceed.
Specific objectives;
1. To build an understanding of the relation of
the Biological, Physical and Social sciences,
and the possibility of transfer of information
and methodology between them.
24
2. To understand the relation of science and
scientists to society, and the way they re
act to one another.
To have the student:
3* Be aware of how knowledge may come into being.
4. Appreciate that the development of science has
extended beyond national boundaries.
3* Develop a sympathetic attitude toward science
and the scientific enterprise.
6. Gain a general idea of what science can and
cannot be expected to accomplish.
7- Gain some ability in evaluating statements
about science as encountered on radio, tele
vision, in books, magazines, and newspapers,
8. Become acquainted with sources of biological
information.
9. Become acquainted with a vast field for in
teresting reading.
10. Appreciate something of the more advanced as
pects of modern medicine.
11. Appreciate that:
a. Scientific inquiry grew out of man’s con
tinued effort, often with an interest in
practical application, to create coher
ence and unity in the physical world.
b. The advance of science is beset continu
ally by difficulties in observation and
in interpretation.
c. New experimental techniques which open
new areas of inquiry are of importance.
d. Throughout the scientific enterprise there
is an intricate interplay between observa
tion and concept.
e. The problems and methods of science are
associated with the political, economic,
and philosophical status of society.
f. Improvements in the practical arts have
usually arisen quite differently from
advances in science--the degrees of
empiricism and the goals are usually
quite different.
g. Science advances through the creation of
new conceptual patterns, or the modifica
tion of existing ones, which are further
tested through experiment and observation
for their fruitfulness.
It was believed that, to provide the student with
knowledge of the principles and methods of biology and
to afford him practice in the use of these principles and
26
methods, the course should "cut across" many fields of
human learning. Emphasis should be primarily on the
student, and his needs. And the primary concern was to
have the student realize that the training in critical
thinking, in methods of science, in generalizations and
understandings should influence his life significantly--
freeing him from prejudice and superstition; aiding him
to locate himself more adequately in this universe; and
impressing him with the importance of relying upon es
tablished truth in ordering his own life. In short, it
was hoped that the generalizations, methods, understand
ings, and attitudes developed through the course, may
have a positive and significant influence on the philos
ophy, beliefs, behavior and attitudes of citizens toward
living in a democratic society.
VIII. METHOD OP PROCEDURE AND DELIMITATION
In attacking this problem in Human Biology, a
survey was made of related literature; much information
was gathered concerning what other colleges— especially
the Junior Colleges and State Colleges of California--
were doing about any aspect of Human Biology; text book
companies were requested to send any texts or manuals
concerned with this topic at the college level; the
27
Sonoma County area was more carefully surveyed for
possibly overlooked contributions which this area might
make to the course; and a file of information on stu
dents was obtained for the offices of the Biological
Science Department.
It was realized that Human Biology could not be
treated in all Its aspects, and also that the objectives
cannot be attained by any over-all survey type of treat
ment. This led to a selection of the relatively few
topics included in the outline, with a view to treating
them in a somewhat thorough manner.
IX. ORGANIZATION OP THE REMAINDER OF THE
PROJECT
The remainder of this project is divided into
three main parts: (1) Part One, which contains, in
addition to the present chapter, a review of the liter
ature in order to ascertain what has been done in the
subject area, a discussion of the development of the
objectives of junior college work in the biological
sciences, and an annotated bibliography of materials
used and referred to in the construction of this project;
(2) Part Two, containing an outline for a course of
study In Human Biology, divided into eight chapters, each
of which deals with a particular topic of the course;
and (3) Part Three, consisting of a discussion of some
means by which the outcomes of this course may be evalu
ated.
CHAPTER I I
REVIEW OP THE LITERATURE ON THE SUBJECT
A summary of general trends In science teaching
was presented in Chapter I. Before proceeding to the
development of the outline for the course In Human Bi
ology for Santa Rosa Junior College, it is desirable
to review further writings of those who have .had long
experience and deep concern for the problem of provid
ing more adequate science courses for the "non-scientist."
I. THE NATURE OF THE NEED TO BE MET BY MORE
ADEQUATE SCIENCE COURSES
1
As Butterfield has stated, because the scien
tific revolution of the sixteenth and seventeenth cen
turies destroyed the authority in science of both the
Middle Ages and the ancient world— ending both scholas
tic philosophy and Aristotelian physics— ". . . it out
shines everything since the rise of Christianity, and
reduces the Renaissance and the Reformation to the rank
Herbert Butterfield, The Origins of Modern
Science (New York: The Macmillan Company,T951), P•
viii.
*30
of mere episodes, mere internal displacements within
the system of medieval Christendom." Is such a state-
2
ment common knowledge, even among scientists? Rogers
states that "Much of the welfare of civilization, and
perhaps even its fate, depends on science." Then
Rogers questions whether our science courses educate
students to understand this dependence, and whether our
science teaching makes a proper contribution to general
education.
Speaking at Princeton late in 1944, President
3
Conant of Harvard said:
The present college courses in physics,
chemistry, and biology by necessity are ar
ranged primarily as a foundation for advanced
work. Therefore they do not fulfill the func
tion of providing for the nonscientific student
an adequate introduction to the methods by
which knowledge has been advanced in modern
times. Such courses fail to meet the educa
tional requirements for the nonscientific stu
dent both because they required too much de
tail as a basis for scientific courses, and also
for another reason closely related to the com
plexities of our modern industrial society.
2
Eric M. Rogers, "Science Courses in General
Education," Science in General Education, Earl J.
McGrath, editor (Dubuque, Iowa: William C. Brown Com
pany, 1948), p. 1.
3
James B. Conant, "Science Courses for Non-
Scientists," Proceedings of the Conference on the
Natural Sciences in theLTBeral Arts College (Princeton:
Princeton University Press, 1944), p. TT
31
Those who give such courses, and I am referring
in particular to chemistry and physics, feel
that they must cover those branches of the
sciences which are concerned with everyday
applications and also must refer to the most
recent discoveries. As a result a rather super
ficial treatment of many phases of physics and
chemistry cannot be avoided.
Dean French of Colgate expressed the same view
point when he stated:
What is the function of the basic course in
science? Is it to lay the foundation for
further technical work in the field, or is it
to provide some understanding of science? If
it is one it can no longer do a respectable job
of the other, in spite of reassuring statements
to the contrary appearing in many college
catalogues.^
5
Moskowitz failed to find awareness in the science
classroom of ". . . the vast implications of scientific
advance in the realms of politics, social organization,
and International responsibility ..."
And, in respect to the importance of social issues
to education, McGrath made the following statement:
The most critical problems with which con
temporary education must deal are social, rather
than physical, in character . . . Of transcendant
Importance is the problem of achieving lasting
S. J. French, "The Need for a New Approach to
Science Teaching," The Wiley Bulletin, New York, 1947*
p. 4.
5
D. H. Moskowitz, "A Layman Looks at the Teaching
of Science," High Points, 32:14-16, 1950-
peace with justice in a world torn between con
flicting ideologies . . , Closely entwined with
this urgent international challenge is the na
tional need to strengthen our political and
economic institutions within the framework of
democratic values, so that the United States
can fulfill its moral and material' responsi
bilities as a leader of the free world.6
Sinnott clarified the demand for a general educa
tion when, in his centennial address at the Sheffield
Scientific School, he asserted:
Man, not matter, is the chief problem of the
world today. If we train his mind to master ma
terial things without at the same time enlarging
his spirit so he may appreciate the value of the
immaterial ones, and thus become master of him
self, he is but half a man. The greatest peril
now is not from lack of education, but from one
sided, partly-educated men. Only whole men can
save the world today.7
Thus, from many quarters there came evidence of
a need for more adequate basic courses in science. And
this need was seen to be much more than a need to learn
the facts of science. It is a need which has deep per
sonal, social, psychological, philosophical and spir
itual implications.
£
Earl J. McGrath, "Introduction," General Educa
tion in Action, B. Lamar Johnson, editor (Washington,
D.C.: The American Council on Education, 1952), p.
viii.
7
Edmund W. Sinnott, "Science and the Whole Man,"
American Scientist (Chicago: Mack Printing Company,
1948), Vol. 36, p. 138.
33
And it should not be unexpected that there would
be uncertainty and doubt at the classroom level as to
how this need was to be met. It should be remembered
that it was not until in the 19^0's that there began to
be a somewhat thorough coordination of the ideas of the
leading philosophical thinkers in Education. About that
time it became increasingly evident that "personal needs"
(Thayer), "social needs" (Caswell, Campbell, Harap),
and "values" (Dewey, Bode, Kilpatrick) were mutually
important in the building of the curriculum.
8
Accordingly, it is found that Alberty suggested
that needs should be broadly conceived as being both per
sonal and social; that the curriculum should be based
on adolescent needs as determined by an analysis of the
democratic way of life, and an analysis of the adoles
cent; that education for citizenship should come first;
and that, if the learning activities of the "social
needs" group deal with the present problems of the
adolescent, and those of the "personal needs" (of
adolescents) aims at adult living, the two support one
another, and may result in the same curriculum.
McLean stated that theories of General Education
8
Harold Alberty, Reorganizing the High School
Curriculum (New York: The Macmillan Company, 1947), pp.
215-216. .
34
are in conflict only at the extremes; that General Edu-
9
cation must include "transmission of culture.’ 1 But
educators must find what aspects of culture are impor
tant and worth transmitting to all people. McLean
emphasized that General Education
. . . does not reject subject matter, but in
sists upon the necessity of drawing from that
of many disciplines such concepts, materials,
and facts, in new syntheses, as will satisfy
individual and common needs— needs both of
society and the individual must be in it. It
can approach the problem through the interests,
drives, and abilities of the individual studentQ
a.nd through the generalized needs of the mass.1
II. CHARACTERISTICS OF THE GENERAL EDUCATION WHICH
IS TO PROVIDE MORE ADEQUATE SCIENCE COURSES
Justification for training the whole personality.
The members of the California Study of General Education
in the Junior College believed that the most adequate
definition of General Education could be given through
a statement of the objectives of General Education. This
^ Malcolm S. McLean, "Conflicting Theories of
General Education," The American College, P. F. Valentine,
editor (New York: TEe”Philosophical Library, 1949),
p. 112.
10
Ibid., pp. 112-113-
35
group accepted objectives based both upon the needs
of the student, and the characteristics, needs, and
demands of the society of which the student is a part.
The following twelve common objectives were suggested
for the General Education program:
The aim of the General Education program is to
help each student increase his competence in:
1. Exercising the privileges and responsibilities
of democratic citizenship.
2. Developing a set of sound moral and spiritual
values by which he guides his life.
3. Expressing his thoughts clearly in speaking
and writing and in reading, and listening
with understanding.
4. Using the basic mathematical and mechanical
skills necessary in everyday life.
5. Using the methods of critical thinking for
the solution of problems, and for the dis
crimination among values.
6. Understanding his cultural heritage so that
he may gain perspective of his time and place
in the world.
7- Understanding his interaction with his bi
ological and physical environment so that
he may better adjust to and improve that
36
environment.
8. Maintaining good mental and physical health
for himself, his family, and his community.
9- Developing a balanced personal and social
adjustment.
10. Sharing in the development of a satisfactory
home and family life.
11. Achieving a satisfactory vocational adjust
ment .
12. Taking part in some form of satisfying
creative activity, and in appreciating the
11
creative activities of others.
These objectives were to be interpreted in terms
of behavior and performance, rather than in terms of
mastering any given body of knowledge.
Achieving the objectives just outlined should re
sult in education of the entire personality, rather than
the cultivation of the intellect alone. W. H. Cowley
has given the following defense of this viewpoint:
. . . the purpose of the college is the training
of the whole student, not of his mind alone. I
take this stand because it is my deep conviction
that in education and in living intelligence is
11
B. Lamar Johnson, Director of the Study, Gen
eral Education in Action (Washington, D.C.: American
Council on Education, 1952), pp. 21-22.
37
not enough, because thinking is only part of
living; because students come to college not
only for training of their minds but also for
enrichment of their lives as people; because
college students need the advice of mature and
experienced adults, who understand their prob
lems; because . . . they seek to know themselves;
because self-knowledge is emotional and social
and spiritual, as well as intellectual; because
not only the student's mind comes to college,
but his body also . . . because college is not
only an intellectual enterprise but also a
social and spiritual environment; because society
expects from college graduates not only intelli
gence but also civilized attitudes,..matured
emotions, and cultivated character. ^
13
Johnson's group believed that General Education
should not only be designed toward educating the entire
personality; also, because it deals with common knowledge,
attitudes, skills and habits essential for effective
living as a person, a member of a family, a worker, and
a citizen— i.e., since General Education is concerned
with common demands by all for meeting common responsi
bilities of life--it should be for everyone.
The California Study of General Education in the
14
Junior College points out that the sciences should
12
W. H. Cowley, "Intelligence Is Not Enough,"-
Journal of Higher Education, 9:76-80, 1938*
^ Johnson, op. cit., pp. 38-40.
14
Ibid., pp. 200-201.
38
contribute especially to goals numbers 5* 6 and 7 of
the above-listed twelve objectives. The Study goes on
to state that science can contribute to: (l) critical
attitudes in regard to problems or issues; (2) problem
solving methods and skills; (3) greater personal and
social competence; (4) increased consumer skills; (5)
awareness of the values of science and the work of
scientists, (6) extended interests leading toward more
significant living; (7) a set of value references which
may aid in the establishment of a more realistic phi
losophy of life; (8) science has given more efficient
daily living; more leisure time and longer human life;
lessened the ravages of disease; modified the physical
environment; and brought about profound changes in our
15
social, political, and economic life. The Study con-
i
tends that ”... youth must be taught how to live in
a world of science and how to reap its fullest benefits
and comforts.”
A statement by the Cooperative Committee on the
Teaching of Science and Mathematics of the American
Association for the Advancement of Science might be
considered a corollary to the final statement of the
preceding paragraph:
15 Ibid., p. 201.
39
If scientists are to function effectively they
must work in a society, where individuals appre
ciate science. And capable scientists will de
velop in larger numbers where good instruction
in science is a part of general education.1®
Justification for emphasis on the methods of
science; and the problem approach to teaching. Through
out the literature related to the objectives for biology
courses in General Education there is much emphasis on
"understanding the methods" of biological science.
!7
Thus, Ward suggested that there should be de
veloped in students the insight into the methods of
science, which in an age dominated by science, students
need as a part of their general education. Ward warned
against a purely factual approach to the teaching of
science:
Giving a great many facts is not the answer—
this approach does not require reasoning; the
mass of facts is too great and science does not
stay fixed— much of the science today will be
obsolete tomorrow. And facts become intelli
gible and significant only when the method is
understood by which they become established.
16
J. R. Steelman, chairman, Manpower for Research,
Vol. IV, "Science and Public Policy" (Washington, D.C.:
United States Government Printing Office, 19^7), P* 16.
17
P. C. Ward, and others, The Idea and Practice
of General Education (Chicago: The University of Chicago
Press, I960), p. 21.
So we should study the nature, methods and role
of science, rather than attempt to give the
present state of knowledge in the various fields
of biology. Use the writings in which scientists
report their discoveries, and announce and defend
their theories.* And in class, discuss ways in
which scientists have formulated their problems,
the nature of the principles used, the methods
of argument and proof employed. This procedure
will best lead students to the nature, processes,
possibilities, and limitations of science, and
prepare them to distinguish between scientific
sense and mere quackery.1°
19
The explanations given by Diamond lend added
significance to the preceding paragraph. He explained
that scientific understanding (i.e., understanding the
methods of science) involves: (a) knowledge of the
question asked by the scientist, which gave rise to the
experiment; (b) knowledge of the difficulties in the
procedure; and (c) understanding of the use of controls,
which give validity to, or prove, the conclusion.
Diamond warned that to state a correct conclusion is
only to give information, and this is not the same as
scientific knowledge, because the latter involves a
high level of competence in judging the validity of
18
Ibid., p. 2.
Irving T. Diamond, "A Note on the Role of Bio
logical Science in a Liberal Education," Journal of
General Education, 5:158, October-July, 195^-51•
41
conclusions.
To the question of whether it may be possible
for students at the level of general education to at
tain scientific knowledge or whether they will receive
20
only information, Diamond suggested that this depended
to a considerable degree on whether the general educa
tion student received adequate guidance in his study.
And Diamond believed that, since scientists are trained
in scientific Judgment by the act of judging reports
of investigations, that such reports should be used in
teaching.■
He advised further that a single course should
use only a few topics; and that the discussion of these
topics should emphasize the following: What are the
data? What kind of data are they? And, he contended,
discussion must be supplemented with laboratory work,
to give experience with data— i.e., to show that per
sonal Judgment and intellectual analysis of subject
matter are large factors in reaching conclusions; and
to appreciate the glibness of charts and diagrams.
21
Diamond illustrated the difference in methods
employed in different fields of biological science by
23
Ibid., pp. 160-161..
21
Ibid., pp. 162-163.
42
reference to the original extirpation experiments on
the pancreas (which led to significant knowledge of the
physiology and pathology of that organ) and the very
different method of genetics. He explained that the
data of genetics are breeding experiments and cytologi-
cal observations; and states that the student must
analyze a breeding experiment in which the steps for
obtaining the data are explicitly treated:
(a) Select a parent-population which can be
sharply differentiated into two groups on
the basis of the appearance of some char
acter.
(b) Separation of each filial generation.
(c) Classification of every offspring according
to parental type.
(d) Conversion of the numbers attained into
ratios.
22
Diamond emphasized that the road to understand
ing lies in analysis of inquiry--other paths lead only
to a verbal familiarity, which is not scientific under
standing. He concluded by advising that biology courses
be built around actual reports of inquiry— that such
22
Ibid., p. 164.
43
materials can best lead the student to understand ways
by which the biologist validates his conclusions; and
that inquiries should be selected from a wide range of
subject-matter areas, to give ample opportunity to
contrast and compare the scientific methods of differ
ent fields of biology.
23
French concurred with Diamond in respect to
teaching of the methods of science by selecting problems
from many areas of science. He would have the student
consider: how problems in science are attacked; what
distinguishes a fact from a working principle, a hypo
thesis from a theory; what are the kinds of evidence
used; and how are variable factors handled?
As to whether the methods of science can be
24
taught the general science student, French is perhaps
less optimistic than Diamond. French believes that the
student at the general education level of seience teach
ing can be taught the way scientists operate. Yet he
thinks that it is still unknown whether such teaching
can make these methods a part of the student's mode of
operatiOn--that it has not yet been discovered how much
23
Sidney J. French, 'The Place of Science in
General Education," Journal of General Education, Vol.
4, pp. 68-69*
24
Ibid., pp. 70-72.
transfer is made or how to make it.
This emphasis upon understanding methods and
reasons of science (and never merely upon achieved re
sults) is especially pronounced in the science program
25
of the College of the University of Chicago. Schwab
stated that a relatively small number of topics are
treated as problems in which a leading concern is atten
tion to detail, questions of evidence, and interpreta
tions leading to conclusions; that there is special
effort made to understand the manner by which knowledge
is obtained; that the sequence and relations among rep
resentative materials is made such that the problems,
data and conclusions of one field are often seen to have
a bearing on similar factors in other fields.
26
Schwab proceeds with this emphasis on "methods,"
stating that problems should present science not as a
narrative discourse on its methods or conclusions, but
as "methods" by which conclusions are reached, verified
and related; and "conclusions" are to be examined as
the consequences of application of these means to an
J. J. Schwab, "The Natural Sciences at
Chicago College," The Idea and Practice of General Edu
cation, P. C. Ward, and others (Chicago: The University
of Chicago Press, 1950)> PP* 15^-155*
26
I Ibid. , p. 155-
45
appropriate subject matter. Perhaps thus to give the
conclusions of science, the cogency and meaning that
they have when viewed in terms of problems, data, and
the interpretations from which they come. And the pro
cesses of inquiry, which characterize science should be
exhibited concretely and by example, in the form of
reports and problems formulated, and data gathered and
interpreted, which the student must grasp, point by
point, as the necessary steps toward reaching a knowl
edge and understanding of conclusions. It is believed
that such an approach can best lead the student to de
velopment of sound judgment— i.e., that it can best
lead to "how to think,1 1 rather than "what to think.1 1
27
At Harvard University science courses of the
General Education program all stress the methods of
science, and the way the scientist works. All have the
objective of dealing intensively with only certain as
pects of a traditional science field, but never hesi
tating to "cut across" and get relationships from all
fields of knowledge. Dr. Castle stated: "Material
has been chosen to illustrate certain characteristic
problems, methods, and achievements in biological sci
ence . . . The structure of the course is topical
27
F. G. Watson, and others, "Science in the Gen
eral Education Program at Harvard University," Science
in General Education, op. cit., pp. 89-90.
rather than chronological.”
46
Dr. Conant suggests, in this connection:
An intensive study of certain topics or
phases of a problem is intended to introduce
the student to the same sort of appreciation
and understanding as comes to those who have
studied some branch of knowledge with profit
for many years.29
Dean French of Colgate has given further support
to emphasis on dealing with the methods of science, and
the problem approach in the following statement:
. . . The acquisition of a complete sequence of
facts or principles is of far less importance in
general education than the understanding of how
facts or principles contribute to the solution
of a problem. In natural science this concept
leads away from a survey, necessarily superficial,
of the highlights of modern achievement to a
more careful study of a few problems, in an en
deavor to understand what factors contributed to
the solution--and how, and why.3°
It is very desirable to recognize, at this point,
that consideration for no other aim than understanding
of the methods of science would lead to a narrow intel
lectual approach, very different from that of educating
the whole personality (Cowley, Johnson).
Havighurst's statement should be kept in mind:
28 IkM-» P- 102*
29
Ibid., p. 104.
30
Sidney J. French, "General Education in Natural
Science at Colgate University," Science in General Educa
tion, op. cit., p. 41.
47
. . . the psychological and biological discoveries
of the last fifty years have revealed the inner
world of man as one in which the desires and ap
petites operate in the closest connection with
the intellect and in ways that do not allow the
intellect a clear dominance. The human organism
is seen as profoundly unified. During emotion
there are physiological changes which affect the
function of the intellect. On the other hand,
the mind can influence the physiological state
of the body. All behavior, including intellec
tual functioning, is a function of the total
personality.31
Justification for the manner of relating method
and content. The preceding section has indicated that
problems involving actual reports of inquiry by scien
tists can best be used to develop comprehension of the
methods of science. Schwab suggests:
The practical union of "method" and "content"
is to be effected by connected series of selected
readings drawn from the research literature of
each of the scientific fields considered. In
struction is to consist of careful reading and
discussion of these materials taken both indi
vidually and in relation to one another. The
means is to be laboratory periods and discussion
periods each week. The aim is to become informed
about the phenomena with which the paper is con
cerned, to understand the problem formulated in
31
R. J. Havighurst, "The Issues Are Three: Social,
Psychological and Educational," Subcommittee of the
General Education Committee, Commission on Curricula of
Secondary Schools and Institutions of Higher Learning,
North Central Association of Colleges and Secondary
Schools, ed., General Education in the American High
School (Chicago: Scott, Forsman and Company, 1942;,
p. I65.
48
it, to see what aspects of the phenomena are
contained in the problem, and to follow through
the solution of the problem. Then to relate
the papers of each series.
Textbook materials are used to fill gaps be
tween papers and to bring student attention to
questions both of the nature of the world, and
of scientific inquiry, and to achieve connections
between different c o n c l u s i o n s .32
Perhaps Schwab's statement could be summarized
by stating that objectives are implemented by using sets
of scientific papers, carefully chosen to show data,
syntheses, tests, and alternative formulation. The
discussion technique and optional laboratory work is
used as a "means," upon papers which move from data to
conclusions as "materials," for the "ends" of under
standing man's present view of some few aspects of his
present world.
33
French states that many courses use histori
cally important original papers, which can often be used
to bring out not only successful modes of thought and
operation, but also the errors and the mistakes made,
32 Schwab, _op. cit., pp. 157-160.
33
Sidney J. French, "The Place of Science in
General Education," Journal of General Education, Vol. 4,
p. 69> October-July, 1949-50.
49
and the probable reasons for them.
Of the natural science courses at Colgate, French
states:
. . . The successful class meeting is neither
a lecture nor a recitation of the traditional
type. It consists rather of an active exchange
of ideas, the instructor assisting In clarifying
concepts and encouraging students to judge ex
planations by the degree to which they fit ob
servable f a c t s .34
At Harvard, Colgate, and the College of the Uni
versity of Chicago, as well as at other institutions of
higher education, there are many laboratory demonstra
tions, but individual laboratory work tends to be on an
optional basis. Most statements concerning the value
of traditional laboratory work agree with that of
35
French, who believes that the traditional laboratory
work accompanying an orthodox science course would be
of little value, or, perhaps, would be a handicap to
the general education science course; and that much
remains to be done before the value and place of labora
tory work will be known for the general education
science course.
If General Education courses are primarily con
cerned with providing training in the methods of science,
34
IMd., p. 44.
35
Ibid., p. 71.
and if they do not follow conventional subject matter
lines, a single text is usually not used— rather, there
are many texts on the reserve shelves of the library.
This is true for the general courses in biology given
at Harvard, Colgate, Chicago, Stephens College, the
University of Iowa, Boston University, and many others.
Justification for frequent reference to the
37
history- of science. Conant contends that a ’ ’feel
for science" could be developed through intensive study
of case histories drawn from the times when organized
science was beginning. Then the number of bits of in
formation that could be focused on a particular problem
were relatively few and for that reason the solution of
the problems, which in retrospect seem rather obvious,
called for the same scientific insight as current prob
lems .
38
Such men as Charles Singer and Herbert
Earl J. McGrath, editor, Science in General
Education (Dubuque, Iowa: William C. Brown Company,
1948)'I—
37 ,
J. B. Conant, Science and Common Sense (New
Haven: Yale University Press, l'95l), P- 5-
38
Charles Singer, A History of Biology (New
York: Henry Schuman, 1950*7 > PP* vli-vill1
51
39 40
Butterfield in England, and J. W. Abrams in the
United States, have long advocated the history of science
as a unifying principle because: history best shows
science as a developing, growing process; by considering
the origin of scientific concepts the interrelationships
of science with other fields of knowledge are easily il
lustrated; new concepts in science can be better assimi
lated when viewed alongside the particular problem re
sponsible for their development; the simpler ideas can
be used to lead to the more complex modern ones; history
of science has an intrinsic value as another aspect of
the history of civilization.
41
French suggests that the significance of his
torical material has been neglected as a study, and
that the history of science can be used especially in
two ways: in broadening the education of the scientist,
and in contributing important connecting elements be
tween science and other courses. He goes on to suggest
-3Q
Herbert Butterfield, The Origins of Modern
Science (New York: The Macmillan Company, T551), PP•
vii-x.
40
J. W. Abrams, "The Wesleyan Course in Physical
Science," Science in General Education, op. cit., p.
267-
41
French, op. cit., p. 70.
52
that historical cases can be selected for intensive
study, or that the approach can be basically historical,
showing the relationship of science to the activities
and advancement of civilization. French concludes by
stating that we have too few available source materials,
translations, and interpretative writings.
Justification for course content being from human
biology. Presentation of the methods of science,
biological principles, etc., from the vantage ground of
man himself would seem justifiable for many reasons.
Man is the animal which the student knows best, and the
animal which is most interesting to him; although knowl
edge of man is far from complete, man is the animal
about which science has most information, and about
which more of the classics of science are available.
Moreover, man is the animal each of us needs most to
know more about. Nevertheless, in respect to the last
statement, it is well known that much of the biological
knowledge of man has come, and will continue to come,
from work with other organisms. And, not least impor
tant of all, it is in the fields of biology relating
especially to man that the instructor has had most train
ing.
The General Biology course at Stephens College
53
gives emphasis to the relation of man to his environ-
42 43
mentj at the University of Iowa* "Biology of Man"
gives emphasis to . . the basic values of biology in
relation to civilization and modern culture;" and prob
ably at almost every college where there is a General
Education course in Biological Science# some aspect of
human biology is included In it.
III. EVALUATION OP GENERAL EDUCATION SCIENCE
INSTRUCTION
There has been considerable advance beyond sub
ject matter testing in evaluation of Instruction in
44
science. The Eight Year Study employed tests of:
1. Application of principles.
2. The nature of proof.
3. Interpretation of data.
45
Meder found Independent study to cause greater shift in
42
McGrath, ©£. cit., p. 115.
43
Ibid.# p. 150.
44
Wilford Aiken# The Story of the Eight Year
Study# Progressive Education Association# Commission on
Relation of School and College, Adventure in American
Education# Vol. I (New York: Harper and Brothers, 1942),
p. 91.
45
Elsa M. Meder, Youth Considers the Heavens
(New York: Columbia University tress, 1942}, pp. 23-24.
54
student opinion (in regard to supernatural domination of
man) than when directed study procedure was used.
46
Brewer and others have attempted to test shifts of
attitudes following General Education type of courses
in science. Devices also exist for evaluating critical
thinking, misconceptions, application of understanding,
changes in behavior, and prediction of success in science
courses.
47
Stockton College and Monterey Peninsula College
apply evaluative instruments to seniors of adjacent
high schools. Those students continuing on to college
are measured on paired instruments through their col
lege years. Analysis of results is said to be provid
ing valuable results, not only regarding the character
istics and needs of the students but also regarding
the counseling and teaching program of these colleges.
It must be admitted that a considerable body of
present-day evaluation is not too valid--e.g., the ques-
48
tlonnaires used by Harvard and the University of
46
W. D. Brewer, Factors Affecting Student
Achievement and Change in a Physical Science Survey
"Course, Contributions to-Education, Noi 868 (Hew York:
Columbia University Press, 1943), pp. 69-73*
47
Johnson, op. cit., p. 317*
48
McGrath, op. cit., p. 81.
49
Louisville and other institutions. Yet there is
wide agreement that students as well as staff should
have a part in evaluation. And, if there is agreement
with Alyea that ". . . the most valuable portions of our
education were those which stirred us intellectually,
which made us grow beyond the subject matter of .the course
itself . . ." it is not difficult to understand why
evaluation devices are inadequate.
The work group in biological sciences, at the
University of Minnesota Conference on General Education
gave the following suggestions for research in evalua
tion:
1. It was proposed that at the beginning of
a biology course the students be tested to de
termine their levels of understanding and abil
ities, attitudes, and appreciations in the Melds
covered by the course, to be followed by a simi
lar test at the close of the course to determine
what was actually gained in course objectives.
2. A poll.of the aims of a general education
course in the biological sciences should be taken
among the faculty and the staff of the department
of biology.
3. It was suggested that a general education
test in biological intelligence be constructed to
be given to students who have had the general
biology course in the general education program
and to those who have had comparable courses in
the introductory and specialized courses in
biology.
49
* Ibid., pp. 316-317.
56
The group recommended that a test be con
structed In biological intelligence, social im
plication issues, attitudes, appreciations, etc.,
to be given to graduates who have had specialized
biology courses, to those who have had general
biology in a general education program, and to
those who have had neither.
5. It was further suggested that such tests,
including problem-solving items, should be given
to graduates of courses using the conventional
laboratory assignments and projects in science
situations.
6. The group recognized the urgent need for
the evaluation of outcomes in a course taught by
a single teacher in contrast to a like course
staffed by several instructors from specialized
fields of biology.
7. It was recommended that an evaluation be
made of the use of textbooks in contrast to the
use of selected readings in the general education
course in biological science.
8. It was recommended that an evaluation be
made of biological abilities, attitudes, under
standings, and appreciations of students who
received their biological training in the tra
ditional general biology course, to be compared
with similar outcomes and achievements on the
part of students who have had their work in the
general education course in biology.
9- It was proposed that a comprehensive in
vestigation be made of the facilities and ob
stacles which now exist in the preparation of
college and university teachers for science
courses, including biology, within the general
education program.
10. The group recommended that an evaluation
study be made of teacher success in this field
of teaching in higher education, involving per
sonality, scope of preparation, mode of approach,
57
IV. SUMMARY OF LITERATURE REVIEW
1. Traditional fact-laden basic biology courses
(often following the taxonomic approach) and the super
ficial "survey" type of courses do not meet the needs
of either the non-science "major" or the future
biologist.
2. Student needs are both personal and social,
and should be considered in relation to the framework
of the democratic way of life.
3- The Junior College program should afford
training of the whole personality (not just training
of the intellect) for all who desire that training.
4. A major objective of science teaching is
to give training in understanding of the methods of
science.
5. Achieving the objective of understanding the
methods of science, although admittedly difficult, is
best attacked through the problem approach (i.e., the
C. L. Furrow, "The Biological Sciences," Gen
eral Education in Transition, H. L. Morse, editor (Minne
apolis! University of Minnesota Press, 1951), pp. 192-3.
58
analysis of inquiry), using but few problems, chosen
from several areas of biology, and studying each problem
intensively.
6. The favored procedure of instruction (for at
taining understanding of the methods of science) is
analytical reading of collections of papers, which re
port actual scientific investigations. Such reading is
followed by small discussion groups, and demonstrations.
There should be a minimum of lectures. Individual
laboratory work is usually optional. Texts are used to
fill gaps not covered by papers, and to achieve connec
tions between different conclusions. History offers
many values in training to understand the methods of
science. But the history of science has been neglected,
so there is little historical material of value avail-
/
able.
7. Man offers a most desirable approach for a
study of biology.
8. Much remains to be done in determining how
nearly the goals of the general education science pro
gram are being approximated by the instruction process.
There is need for much research in obtaining more ade
quate evaluation devices.
CHAPTER III
SOME CONSIDERATIONS RELATING TO INSTRUCTIONAL
PROCEDURE
It was thought to be desirable that a few practi
cal considerations be dealt with before an outline of
the individual topics of the course of study be begun.
In the college library there will be a copy of
each of the following books for every five students
taking the course:
Beveridge, W. J. B., The Art of Scientific In
vestigation
Conant, J. B., Science and Common Sense
Corner, G. W., The Hormones in Human Reproduction
Goldschmidt, R. B., Understanding Heredity
Dodson, E. D., A Textbook of Evolution
Leake, C. D., translation of Harvey's De Motu
Cordium
University of Chicago collection of papers relat
ing to investigations on the pancreas.
In the laboratory-discussion room where the class
meets, there will be a library containing copies of the
60
the better known texts in Anatomy, Histology, Bacteri
ology, Biochemistry, Pharmacology, Physiology, Pathology,
Neurology, Medicine, Surgery, Heredity, Genetics, Zo
ology, etc. Students will be referred to (and so have
some chance to become familiar with the types of informa
tion contained in) these texts during discussion and
laboratory periods.
Curing the first week of the class each student
will be asked to prepare a list of twenty significant
statements (especially from reading in Beveridge's The
Art of Scientific Investigation, and Conant's Science
and Common Sense) concerning the arts and methods of
scientific investigation.
To emphasize the methods of science beyond as
signed reading, class-discussion, and laboratory work,
and to give further training in the use of the library,
each student will be asked to give a brief analysis of
fifteen reports of actual Investigations. The materials
for these analyses will be selected from twenty-five
such reports placed in the college library. The twenty-
five reports will have been taken from current periodi
cals (e.g., American Scientist, Scientific American,
Science, Journal of the American Medical Association,
etc.), histories of medicine, pathology, physiology, etc.
These analyses are to be reported on cards (four by six
61
inches in size); and the analysis report is to conform
to the following outline:
1. What was the problem, and how did it arise?
2. How was the problem attacked?
a. What data were sought?
b. What difficulties arose, and how were
difficulties solved?
e. What variables were considered, and how
were these controlled?
d. Summary of data.
3. Statement of conclusions by investigator.
4. Was it fair to draw the conclusions stated
from the data gathered?
5. Do you think of other problems which the
conclusions found here might be a help in
solving?
The laboratory work was believed valuable for a
number of reasons: to make vivid some conclusions from
the readings, to develop some understanding of the nature
of experimental investigations and methods, to show
difficulties of experimentation and limits of accuracy,
1
and to answer some of the questions which arise during
discussion.
The topics in the following outline have been
62
selected from different areas of biology to show methods
which differ widely. It was believed that there was a
natural sequence (both logical and psychological) to
the order in which topics appear in the outline.
It was hoped that the topics on "Man in Relation
to Biological Aspects of Atomic Energy" and "Social As
pects of Medicine, and Trends in Medical Care" will give
a glimpse of two biological frontiers, perhaps leading
to some appreciation of current trends in biological
science. It was believed further that these two topics
offered excellent materials for studying the development
of biological principles in relation to other aspects of
man's cultural and intellectual advance.
Concerning the specific use of science to the
1
social scientist, French reported that the social
scientist wanted his students to know something about
the scientific approaches, and something about the
great advances in which science has played a major
part; that he wanted them to know the way in which
discoveries have affected society and the converse, to
understand the organized growth of science, and its re
lation to government, private enterprise and authori-
^ S. J. French, "The Place of Science in General
Education," Journal of General Education, Vol. 4, pp.
71-72.
63
tarian control.
No effort has been made to cover any whole field
of biology. Somewhat thorough and intensive considera
tion is to be given with respect to the topics selected.
There is little doubt that there will be many
problems in attempting to achieve the objectives by the
procedures outlined. Many of our students lack the ca
pacity demanded by standards set up by Harvard, The
University of Chicago, and other universities. In
adapting the course to the interests and abilities of
students, there will have to be reference works of the
type of De Krui.f’s Microbe Hunters and Silverman’s
Magic in a Bottle, as well as translations of original
works. Yet it was questioned whether those who were of
low capacity would receive less than with present pro
cedure. Some students will not care for laboratory
work, but the laboratory work need not emphasize mastery
of skills— it may properly include experiments from many
fields of biology, especially those which are commonly
most interesting. Things of real interest in the labora
tory can be pleasant.
It was believed that such basic courses as the
one herein outlined would be best for both the beginning
biologist and the non-scientist, alike. It seemed ob
vious that the non-scientist would gain much more from
64
a presentation of methods and principles adorned with
enough experimental and factual data to give them sub
stance, and, therefore, to make them meaningful, than
from a mere outline of facts alone. It was believed
that the beginning biologist would profit in a similar
manner by being able to view biology as a broad field,
and by being stimulated to think biologically rather
than simply to memorize details.
If the objectives stated in Chapter I are granted,
then the major job of teaching must be
. . .accomplished in face-to-face relationships
by means of give and take. Logic in its fulfill
ment recurs to the primitive sense of the word:
dialogue. Ideas which are not communicated,
shared, and reborn in expression are but a so
liloquy, and soliloquy is but broken and imper
fect thought.2
2
John Dewey, The Public and Its Problems (New
York: Gateway Books,*™T^2TJ7-p7 218.
B I BL IOGRAPH Y
BIBLIOGRAPHY
A. BOOKS
Aiken, W., The Story of the Eight Year Study, Progres
sive Education Association, Commission on Relation
of School and College, Adventure in American Edu
cation, Vol. I. New York: Harper and Brothers,
19^2. 212 pp.
The highly favorable results of "progressive"
procedures used' for an eight year period at some
thirty high schools throughout the United States.
Alberty, Harold, Reorganizing the High School Curricu-
lum. New York: The Macmillan Company, 19^7•
*58 pp.
This work outlines the need for a reorganization
of the high school curriculum, and gives many
suggestions as to methods by which this need
can best be met. Emphasis is on the core cur
riculum.
Bogue, J. P., The Community College. New York: The
McGraw-Hill Book Company, Inc., 1950* 390 pp.
An overview of the Junior College movement, with
reasons for its existence and rapidity of develop
ment .
Brewer, W. L., Factors Affecting Student Achievement
and Change in a Physical Science Survey CourseT
Contributions to Education, No. 868. New York:
Columbia University Press, 19^3* 78 pp.
Procedure for attempting to test shifts in stu
dent attitudes following General Education course
in science.
Butterfield, Herbert, The Origins of Modern Science.
New York: The Macmillan Company, 19$1» 187 PP•
67
A scholarly treatment of the development of mod
ern science, and the influence of that develop
ment on modern thought.
Cohen, I. B., and F. G. Watson, editors, General Edu
cation in Science. Cambridge: Harvard University
Press, TU52T 217 pp.
The papers presented at the Workshop in Science
in General Education, held at the Harvard Summer
School in' 1950--, f The Philosophy of Science and
the History of Science in Relation to the _Teach-
ing of Science;" "Science for the Nonscientist;"
"The Sciences in a Technical Civilization;"
"Some Problems in the Teaching of Biology;" and
"The Evaluation Problem"--are given consideration.
Cole, Luella, The Background for College Teaching. New
York: Farrar and Rinehart, Inc., 1'9W"J 616 pp.
A remarkably readable and comprehensive treatment
of college teaching.
Conant, J. B., Science and Common Sense. New Haven:
Yale University Press, 1951. 3?1PP-
Conant stresses the value of the history of
science in the approach to teaching science in
the framework of General Education.
Dewey, John, Democracy and Education. New York: The
Macmillan Company, 19377 434' pp.
Sets forth the ideas implied by a democratic
society, and applies these ideas to the problems
of public education. The philosophy stated by
Dewey connects the growth of democracy with the
methods and ideas of science, and with industrial
reorganization, and the influence of these factors
on education.
_______ , The Public and Its Problems. New York:
Gateway Books, 19£7* 218 pp.
Dewey emphasizes that "discussion" is a cardinal
procedure in teaching..
68
Educational Policies Commission, Education for All
American Youth. Washington, D.C.: National
Education Association, 1944. 421 pp.
Lists the objectives of an educational program.
Eurich, A. C.. "General Education in the American
College, Thirty-eighth Yearbook of the National
Society for the Study of Education, Part II', 1939*
382" pp.’----------------------------
An analysis of reasons - for the trend toward Gen
eral Education.
Johnson, B. L., Director of the Study, General Educa
tion in Action. Washington, D.C.: American
CouncTT on Education, 1952. 409 pp.
A study of many aspects of the General Education
program, with special reference to findings re
garding these several aspects in the junior col
leges of California.
Johnson, P. 0., Curricular Problems in Science at the
College Level. Minneapolis: The University of
Minnesota Press, 1930* 188 pp.
Valuable references on the experimental approach
to the solution of curricular problems.
Me Grath, Earl J., "Introduction," General Education in
Action, G. L. Johnson, editor. Washington, D.C.:
The American Council on Education, 1952. 409 PP*
Advocates more thorough integration of all
"subjects" with better understanding of the
social issues*of our time.
_______ , editor, Science in General Education.
Dubuque, Iowa! William C. Brown Company, 1948.
400 pp.
A review of the science program in General Educa
tion at some twenty United States colleges and
universities.
69
Meder, E. M., Youth Considers the Heavens. New York:
Columbia University Press, 19^2^ 53 pp.
A situation where independent study was found
superior'to directed study.
Noll, V. H., Laboratory Instructions in the Field of
Inorganic Chemistry. Minneapolis: The University
of Minnesota Press, 1930. 164 pp.
Noll found individual laboratory work in Chemistry
far superior to group work. He points out the
invalidity of experiments purporting the opposite
view.
Sexson, J. A., and John W. Harbeson, The New American
College. New York: Harper and Brothers, 1945.
20b pp.
An enthusiastic report on the place, objectives,
and probable trends of the Junior College.
Singer, C., . A History of Biology. New York: Henry
Schuman, 1950. 573 pp.
Emphasizes the importance of the history of
science.
Smith, B. 0., W. 0. Stanley, and J. H. Shores,
Fundamentals of Curriculum Development. New York:
World Book Company, I $50* 7b0 pp.
A well written, comprehensive treatment of cur
riculum development, with a somewhat "social
reconstruction" point of view.
The Harvard Committee, General Education in a Free
Society. Cambridge, Harvard University Press,
— 26? pp.
The basis for the Harvard program in General
Education.
Ward, F. C., and others, The Idea and Practice of
General Education. Chicago: ihe University of
Chicago Press, 1950* 333 PP*
TO
The basis for the General Education program of
The College of the University of Chicago, and
an outline of the program.
B. ESSAYS
Abrams, J. W., "The Wesleyan Course in Physical Science"
Science in General Education, Earl J. McGrath,
editor. Dubuque, Iowa: William C. Brown Company,
1948. 267 PP-
Abrams advocates the use of history as a unifying
principle in the teaching of science.
Brink, W. G., excerpt quoted from material being pre
pared for publication in a National Society for
the Study of Education yearbook.
Concerns the meaning of "need."
Committee of the National Society for the Study of
Education, "A Program for Teaching Science,"
Thirty-first Yearbook of the National Society
for the Study of EducaTTon, Part I, 1932" ¥63 PP* i
Many fine recommendations regarding the science
program.
Conant, J. B., "Science Courses for Non-scientists,"
Proceedings of the Conference on the Natural
Sciences in the Liberal Arts CoTlege. Princeton:
Princeton University Press, 1944. 388 pp.
Concern for a new type of science course adapted
to the needs of the nonscientist.
Cowley, W. H., "Education for Quality," The American
College, P. P. Valentine, editor. New York: The
Philosophical Library, 1949* 575 PP*
An attempt to reconcile inclusion of both cultural :
and vocational subjects in the program of General
Education.
71
French, S. J. , "General Education in Natural Science
at Colgate University," Science in General Educa
tion, Earl J. McGrath, editor. Dubuque, Iowa:
William C. Brown Company, 1948. 400 pp.
Emphasizes teaching the methods of science, and
the problem approach to science teaching.
Furrow, C. L., "The Biological Sciences," General Edu
cation in Transition, H. L. Morse, editor.
MlnneapoTis: The University of Minnesota Press,
1951. 310 pp. *
The suggestions for research in evaluation in
biological science teaching, by the work group
in biological sciences at the 1950. University
of Minnesota Conference on General Education.
Havighurst, R. J., "The Issues Are Three: Social,
Psychological and Educational," Subcommittee of
the General Education Committee, Commission on
Curricula of Secondary Schools and Institutions
of Higher Learning, North Central Association of
Colleges and Secondary Schools, editor, General
Education in the American High School. Chicago:
Scott Forsman and Company,’ " 19427 165 PP*
Emphasizes that education should deal with the
whole personality, not just the intellect.
MacLean, M. S., "Conflicting Theories of General Edu
cation," The American College, P. F. Valentine,
editor. New York: The Philosophical Library,
1949. 575 PP-
An attempt to reconcile the inclusion of both
cultural and vocational and leisure-time activi
ties in the General Education program.
McGrath, Earl J., "Trends in Science Courses in General
Education," Science in General Education, Earl J.
McGrath, editor. DuEuque, Iowa! William C.
Brown Company, 1948. 400 pp.
A summary of trends based on analysis of the pro
grams of some twenty-one colleges, the programs
of which comprise the earlier chapters of the book.
72
Pace, C. R., "An Introduction," Organization and Admin
istration of General Education, W. H. Stickler,
editor. Dubuque, Iowa! William C. Brown Company,
1951- 431 PP.
Pace outlines the setting for the General Educa
tion program.
Powers, S. R., "Science Education," Encyclopedia of
Educational Research, Revised Edition, Walter S.
Monroe, editor. New York: The Macmillan Company,;
1950. 1520 pp.
In this article, Powers gives a somewhat encyc
lopedic treatment of Science Education. Valuable
for trends in Science Education.
Report of the Committee on the Reorganization of Sec
ondary Schools, Reorganization of Science In
Secondary Schools. Washington, D.C.: United
States Office of Education, Bulletin No. 26,
1920. 64 pp. S
A significant report emphasizing a closer r e l a
tionship of the program of the secondary schools
to student needs.
Rogers, Eric M., "Science Courses in General Education,"
Science in General Education, Earl J. McGrath,
editor. Dubuque, Iowa: William C. Brown Company,
1948. 400 pp.
Schwab, J. J., "The Natural Sciences at Chicago Col
lege," The Idea and Practice of General Education, j
P. C. Ward and others! Chicago: The University
of Chicago Press, 1950* 333 PP*
Natural science teaching at Chicago College places
major emphasis on understanding the methods of
science.
Steelman, J. R., Chairman, Manpower for Research,
Vol. IV, "Science and Public Policy." Washington,
D.C.: United States Government Printing Office,
1947. 287 PP.
Concern for the mutual relationship between ad
vance in science and general understanding of
science.
73
Stout, J. E., "The Development of High School Curric
ula in. the North Central States from 1860-1918,"
Supplementary Educational Monograph, No. 15.
Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1921.
236 pp.
These data, collected by Stout, emphasize that
the high school science program of 1918 was still
dominated by the idea of preparation for univer
sity work.
Tiffney, W. N., "The Science Program in Boston Univer
sity General College," Science in General Educa
tion, Earl J. McGrath, editor. Dubuque, Iowa:
William C. Brown Company, 1948. 400 pp.
Describes the method of fusion and integration
of the five areas of knowledge comprising the
program for the first two years at Boston College.
Watson, P. G., and others, "Science in the General
Education Program at Harvard University," Science
in General Education, Earl J. McGrath, editor.
Dubuque, Iowa: William C. Brown and Company,
1948. 217 PP-
Emphasizes teaching the methods of science, with
broad and thorough treatment of topics considered.
C. PERIODICALS
Bailey, P. P., "Annual Report of the President of
Santa Rosa Junior College." 96 pp.
Some analyses relating to the student population
at Santa Rosa Junior College.
Cowley, W. H., "Intelligence Is Not Enough," Journal
of Higher Education, 9:76-80, 1938.
Emphasizes that the college should train the whole i
personality and not just the intellect.
74
Diamond, I. T., "A Note on the Role of Biological
Science in a Liberal Education," Journal of
General Education, 5:158, October-July, 1*9^0-51.
The difference between scientific information and
scientific knowledge.
French, S. J., "The Need for a New Approach to Science
Teaching," The Wiley Bulletin. New York: Wiley
and Sons, 19Wj. 14 pp.
French advocates the need for a separate type of
science course for the nonscientist.
_____ , "The Place of Science in General Education,"
Journal of General Education, Vol. 4, pp. 68-69-
Advocates training in the methods of science as
a major objective of science teaching in General
Education.
Moskowitz, D. H., "A Layman Looks at the Teaching of
Science," High Points, 32:14-16, 1950-
Deplores finding little attention in the science
classroom or laboratory to the part which science
is playing in daily living.
Orata, Pedro T., "Recent Research Studies on Transfer
of Training with Implications for the Curriculum,
Guidance and Personnel Work," Journal of Educa
tional Research, Vol. 35 > October 1941, pp.
81- 89-
A summary of some two hundred investigations con
cerned with transfer of training.
Richards, Owen W., "The Present Content of Biology in
Secondary Schools," School Review, 31:143-46,
September, 1923*
This article emphasizes the lack of unity in con
tent of biology courses offered in the North
Central States.
75
Sinnott, E. W., "Science and the Whole Man," American
Scientist. Chicago: Mark Printing Company,
1948. Vol. 36, p. 138.
Emphasizes the need for greater social understand
ing by the scientist.
"The Philosophy of the General College of Boston Uni
versity," Boston University Bulletin, Boston,
1948, pp. 11-13.
The philosophical background upon which the Gen
eral Education program of Boston College continues
to develop.
PART TWO
THE COURSE OP STUDY
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The information contained in the fol
lowing chapters is the product of other
minds— those past and present.
The only claim to originality of this
study is in the arrangementand in some
instances, the interpretation of the material.
Since much of the Information is from text
books, the constant citation of authorities
has been dispensed with.
A list of references has been appended
at the end of each chapter, to Indicate the
authorities from whom much of the subject
matter has been borrowed. To these authors
the writer expresses his sincere thanks.
CHAPTER IV
SOME ASPECTS OF THE EARLY EMBRYOLOGY OF MAN
X
I. WAYS TO IMPLEMENT OBJECTIVES
The human organism begins as a single cell, the
zygote,- resulting from fertilization*
a. Instructor to outline that: the unfertilized
egg {secondary oocyte) is a typical cell, except
that It lacks half the chromosomes of the usual
human cell.
b. The sperm Is a highly specialized cell, also
having only twenty-four chromosomes.
c. In the upper third of the uterine tube the sperm
head may enter the egg cytoplasm, and the inter
action between the sperm and egg nuclei is ferti
lization, resulting in the zygote, with forty-
eight chromosomes.
d. Assigned reading oh cell division, meiosis, and
fertilization.
Some problems of fertilization. {Note: This work
has been performed on lower forms of animal life.)
Are both sperm and egg required for fertiliza
tion?
(1) Natural parthenogenesis in many Insects.
(2) Artificial parthenogenesis, e.g.* by changing
concentration of salt water surrounding egg
of sea urchin; by pricking amphibian egg;
by placing rabbit egg in salt water* then
returning it to uterus.
(3) Therefore* it is possible for the egg alone
to be all-sufficient for the development of
a new individual.
Zs the egg nucleus essential for fertilization?
(1) The sperm can cause the egg without its
nucleus (the egg nucleus having been removed I
with a microplpette) to divide* but the new
"cells” soon die.
(2) Centrifuging can separate nucleus from egg
of sea urchin. And parts without nucleus
will divide to form a ball of "cells*” when
placed in strong salt solution.
(3) Therefore, early division of egg t© form
two, then four, etc., "cells" does not re
quire nucleus.
Is there a chemical attraction between the egg
and the sperm?
Sea urchin eggs lose ability to be fertilized
after being washed several times In salt
water— "fertilizin" said to be washed off
eggs.
If sperm of sea urchin are washed several
times, this "sperm water" will cause sea
urchin eggs to elump together.
In a similar way, "egg water" will clump
sperm.
(4) If the "fertilizin" (from eggs) and the
"sperm water" are mixed, at the correct
acidity, a precipitate (solid) is formed.
(5) It has been concluded that "fertilizin" on
the egg surface binds the sperm to the egg,
on contact.
Do physico-chemical changes occur at fertiliza
tion?
(1) The sperm bums food at a higher rate, in
the presence of "fertilizin."
(2) The egg membrane becomes more permeable at
fertilization.
(3) Rate of utilization of oxygen by egg in
creases after entrance of sperm.
(4) There are changes in the viscosity of the
egg cytoplasm, and electrical changes after
fertilization.
(5) The sperm produces hyaluronidase, which
dissolves cells around the egg, and aids
sperm entrance Into the egg.
Class to observer
a. Fresh eggs from sow.
b. Stained microscope slides of eggs and sperm.
c. Fertilization of sea urchin eggs.
d. Mitosis in onion root tip, etc.
Cleavage of the fertilized egg (i.e., of the zygote).
a. Mitosis results in two, then four, then eight,
etc., cells, until a hollow ball of cells is
formed (the hollow being filled with fluid).
(1) The cells of this ball may be divided Into
two regions:
(a) The layer of cells forming the surface
of the ball, i.e., the trophoblast,
which Is later concerned with attach
ing the ball to the lining of the
uterus.
(b) A mass of cells, the "inner cell mass,"
which grows down from the surface to
ward the center of the ball. The
"Inner cell mass" gives rise to the
embryo.
b. The laws of cleavage:
|l) The rate of cleavage is Inversely proportion-:
al to the amount of yolk.
(2) The plane ©f cleavage is at right angles to
the long axis of the mitotic spindle.
(3) The long axis of the mitotic spindle coin
cides with the long axis of the cytoplasmic
mass.
{a) Proof of (3) by pressing cell between
glass plates, thus changing the long
axis.
Gastrulatlon— the formation of the primitive digestlvel
tract or endoderm.
a. Like cleavage, the manner of formation of the
endoderm depends upon the amount and distribution I
of yolk.
(l) In the mammal, cells split off from the in
nermost surface of the inner cell mass to
form the primitive digestive tube lining—
i.e., the endoderm.
Experimental embryology relating to the biastula and
the gastrula.
83 i
a. Two types of experiments show that gastrulatlon
Involves more than cell movement-*!.e., gastrula
tlon is a period of great dynamic activity.
(1) Vital staining— pieces of agar, impregnated
with non-toxic dyes are placed in contact
with the developing blastula, etc. The
dyes pass from the agar to the blastula; and
the investigator observes what these stained
areas later become.
(2) Transplantation experiments, i.e., cutting
cells from one region of an embryo, and
transplanting them to another region (in
either the same or another embryo) to de
termine :
(a) What will happen to the region from
which the cells have been removed, or,
more importantly:
(b) What will happen to the cells in their
new neighborhood.
b. Specific examples-of transplantation experiments.
(1) If, in the blastula, cells which are destined
to form skin (as determined by previous vital
staining experiments) are transplanted to a
region destined to form nervous tissue.
(Healing, in the amphibian embryo requires
84 |
about fifteen minutes).
(a) Result: The graft forms not skin, as
It would have, but nervous tissue— I.e.,
at the blastula stage, presumptive
skin cells potency Is overridden by
the environment.
(b) The converse of this experiment: Gives
similar results— i.e., presumptive
nervous tissue transplanted to the
region of presumptive skin will form
skin.
(2) If, in the gastrula, cells are removed from
what is known as the dorsal lip region of
the blastopore, and these cells are inserted j
into the fluid containing cavity of another
gastrula, the growing endoderm pushes the
graft against the skin. In this case (i.e.,
the gastrula), the graft does not form skin; ;
rather, the graft forms the structure it was
destined to form— i.e., the notochord.
Moreover, the graft causes the cells it was
pushed against to form nervous tissue (and
not skin)— i.e., the graft (dorsal lip cells
from the gastrula) is an "organizer."
85
(3) Spemann's* noose experiment determined how
early the dorsal lip material begins to be
an "organizer."
Before a description of Spemann's ex
periment can be understood, it is essential
to know that the frog's egg is darkly pig
mented at one pole, and lacking in pigmenta
tion at the opposite pole. Toward the equa
tor of the zygote, a creseent-shaped pig
mented area begins to lose its dark color—
this area is termed the "gray crescent.”
In one experiment, Spemann tied a noose
of hair around the zygote in such direction
that the noose bisected the gray crescent.
The result was that a small but completely
normal embryo developed from each half of
the zygote.
In a second experiment, the noose was
tied in such a way that all the gray cres
cent material was in one half of the zygote
and none in the other half. The half con
taining all the gray crescent material de
veloped into a normal embryo. The half with
1 H. Spemann, Embryonic Development and Induction
few Haven: Yale University Press, 1938).
no gray crescent material became, not an
embryo, but an unorganized mass of embryonic
cells.
Conclusions:
(a) The gray erescent material Is essential
for development.
(b) The gray crescent is the forerunner
of the dorsal lip of the gastrula.
This has been confirmed by vital stain
ing of the gray crescent*
Transplantation similarly shows the optic
vesicle (the portion of the brain which be
comes the retina of the eye) to be the or
ganizer (i.e., a center of dynamic activity,
which determines the fate of tissues in de
finitive form) for the lens of the eye.
What is this organizer that is present even !
in the zygote?
This problem is unsolved. Evidence has
shown that many sterols are effective as or
ganizers; The sex hormones, the adrenal
cortical hormones, the vitamins D, animal
pigments, the bile acids, and many substances
which have been used experimentally to pro
duce cancer, are also sterols. A more
87
thorough understanding of the metabolism of
sterols by the body might explain much still
unknown about cancer.
7. Formation of the mesoderm.
Following gastrulatlon, a fluid-filled cavity
appears In the Inner cell mass. The-cells lying at
the base of this cavity (and, therefore, directly
upon the endoderm) produce cells which more In be
tween the parent layer and the endoderm, forming a
middle layer of cells. This middle layer Is known
as the mesoderm, while the layer from which It came
is the ectoderm.
By complicated differentiations and development
of these three primary germ layers (ectoderm, meso
derm, and endoderm) at the base of the Inner cell
mass, the tissues, organs, and organ systems of the
complete individual are evolved. Further, failures
of normal differentiation and development explain
the existence of such anomalies as hair lip, cleft
palate, spina bifida, congenital polycystic kidney,
etc.
8. Foetal-uterine relationships In man.
The fertilized egg requires some three days to
88
reach the uterus (probably by peristaltic contrac
tions of the muscular wall of the oviduct). The
zygote remains in the cavity of the uterus for some
three days. The seventh day after leaving the ovary,
the egg enters the living of the uterus. Enzymes
from the trophoblast are believed to dissolve the
uterine wall. And extensions (villi) from the tro
phoblast (later containing blood vessels) project
into blood-filled cavities in the wall of the uterus.
The blood-filled cavities of the uterus are supplied
~i
from maternal arteries. From this time onward, the
developing individual's digestive, respiratory and
excretory functions are carried out by means of the
placenta— formed in part from the trophoblast and
its blood supply, and in part from the lining of the
uterus.
9. Some problems relating to the placenta.
a. Normally, material and foetal bloods do not mix.
(1) Consideration of possible difficulties of
Rh foetus bora to Rh negative mother, and
+
of successive Rh transfusions to Rh nega
tive recipient.
(2) Consideration of passage of foods (placental
barrier impermeable to fats and proteins,
89
as such), gases, alcohol, anesthetics,
etc., across the plaeental harrier.
(3) Consideration of factors aiding foetal oxy
gen supply.
(a) High red blood cell count In the foetus.
(b) Foetal dissociation curve for oxyhemo
globin lies to left of maternal disso- j
elation curve.
(c) Foetal and maternal blood streams flow
in opposite directions In plaeenta.
10. Class observations and study.
a. Microscopic slides showing blastula and gastrula j
in starfish and frog; and mesodermal somites,
neurula, formation of the lens, heart, etc., In
the frog and chick.
b. Gross specimen of placentas, normal and abnormal I
foetuses.
c. Assigned reading relating to: formation of the
neural tube, differentiation of the mesodermal
somites, the "reasons" for some developmental
anomalies, and some study relating to teratology, j
11. Summary of the life span of man.
a. Egg— the first two weeks following fertilization.
b. Embryo— from the end of the second week to the
end of the second month.
e. Foetus--from the end of second month until birth.
d. Neonatal period*— until end of first postnatal
month.
e. Infancy--until end of first year.
f. Childhood— until puberty.
g. Adolescence--„until about seventeen to twenty
years of age.
h. Adulthood.
i. Senescence.
j. Death.
Discussion of;
a. The stages of labor at childbirth, and some as
pects of anesthesia and surgery in relation to
birth.
b. The factors in an adequate prenatal program— the
right of every expectant mother.
c. The number of placentas for fraternal and iden
tical twins.
d. The types of data, and methods of proof consid
ered in this brief study of early embryology.
91
REPERENCE WORKS
Allen, E., C. H. Danforth, and E. A. Doisy, Sex and
Internal Secretions, second edition. Baltimore:
Williams and Wilkins, 1939*
Arey, L. B., Developmental Anatomy. Philadelphia:
W. B. Saunders, 1950*
Ashley, I. M., "Multiple Congenital Anomalies,"
Anatomical Record, Vol. 86, pp. %57-Tl*
Patten, B. M., Human Embryology. Philadelphia: The
Blakiston Company, 19^6.
Spemann, H., Embryonic Development and Induction.
New Haven: Yale University tress, 1938-
CHAPTER V
THE BLOOD VASCULAR SYSTEM, THE GREAT INTEGRATOR
I. WAYS TO IMPLEMENT OBJECTIVES
1. The characteristics of life of sixteenth and seven
teenth century Europe.
a. Individual students to outline the leading char
acteristics (scientific, political, religious,
economic, philosophical, and artistic) of
European life, especially that of Italy and
England, during the last quarter of the sixteenth
eentury and the first quarter of the seventeenth
century.
2. Assigned reading (relating especially to William
Harvey and the life of his time).
a. Harvey's background and early training In England.
b. Physical science and Medicine as they existed at
Padua, about 1600 A.D.
(1) Earlier influence ©f Copernicus, Vesaluls,
and Colombo.
(2) Prevailing beliefs regarding the heart*
vessels* blood and lungs,
fa) Blood thought to pass across septum
of heart.
(b) Belief In idea that blood ebbed and
flowed in vessels.
(c) Air carried by arteries.
(d) Lungs to cool the blood.
Film demonstrating some of Harvey^ experiments.
Experiments by each student.
a. Study of dissected heart of sheep.
b. Expose heart of living frog, and study.
c. Repeat Harvey's experiments as to the location
of valves and direction of flow of blood* in
forearm.
d. Typing of own blood*
e. Counting red blood cells in own blood.
Demonstrations.
a. Valves in the heart* and in veins of cadaver.
b. Circulation in the capillaries of:
{1) Web of foot of frog.
|2) Tall of tadpole.
|3) Nail bed of finger.
c. "Beating" of heart in forty-eight hour chick
embryo.
d. Microscopic distinction between artery, vein, and
capillary.
e. Gross and microscopic demonstration of sclerotic
artery.
f. Lacteals in the mesentery of cat, after feeding
meal of cream.
g. A few pathological hearts.
(1} Enlarged; syphilitic.
(2) Types found in the "blue baby."
Readings by individual students.
a. The path of the circulating blood in man.
b. The foetal circulation.
c. Some anomalies in development of the circulation.
d. The regulation of the heart beat.
e. The functions of capillaries.
f. The functions of the blood.
g. The formation of the tissue fluid.
h. The hepatic portal circulation.
1. The blood groups, especially as related to trans
fusion and pregnancy.
(1) The contributions of Landsteiner and
Wiener.
Summary and discussion of the factors In Harvey*s
development of a new biological concept or theory*
a. Harvey worked among brilliant colleagues at
Padua, both In physical and biological science.
b. On his return to England, he worked In an en
vironment with many favorable components.
c. He did his own dissecting, on a widely compara
tive basis (some eighty species) and made his
own observations.
d. He devised experiments to show:
(l) The location of valves in the veins.
The direction of the flow of blood in the
veins.
The motions of the heart.
e. There being no microscope, he was forced to Infer
the circulation, which he did on a quantitative
basis (although* certainly not rigorously quan
titative).
f. He reasoned correctly as to the motions of the
heart, and the functions of the valves, veins,
arteries and lungs.
g. The concept of the circulation of the blood,
based on wide experiment, observation, and
reason, involved the Mrearrangement of a some
what familiar bundle of data, looking at that
96
data differently, and escaping from prevailing
doctrine." This, Butterfield1 has stated, is
"the most difficult mental task of all."
8. Ways in which Harvey's contributions (concepts) have
been fruitful.
a. His work made inevitable the discovery of the
capillaries— Leeuwenhoek, Malpighi.
b. It sat the stage for making Physiology an inde
pendent science— Haller.
c. It set the stage for making Physiology broadly
comparative— Muller•
d. Harvey's concept is basic to understanding:
(1) Cellular nutrition, excretion and respira
tion, the formation and removal of inter
cellular fluid and lymph.
(2) Diseases affecting the heart and the vessels.
(3) The manner of spread (within the body) of
many pathogens.
(4) The manner of spread of many tumors and the
probable location of these metastases.
(3) Antibody formation by the tissue cells; the
1
Herbert Butterfield, The Origins of Modern
Science (New York: The Macmillan Company,“T9*>1)» p. 2.
97
antibody and phagocytic activity of the
- blood.
(6) Vascular therapy.
(7) Gaseous, vascular, rectal, and local anes
thesia.
(8) The distribution of the hormones, etc.
e. In Embryology, Harvey made the first critical
analysis of the process of development.
9. The blood in relation to development of a dynamic
skeleton.
a. Instructor to explain relation of blood to both
endochondral and intramembranous bone development.
b. Students to observe developing bone of each of
these types.
c. Discussion of the relation of the blood to normal
bone function.
10. The blood in relation to the quantity and control of
oxygen and carbon dioxide used by man.
a. Student to explain manner of transport of oxygen
to, and carbon dioxide from, body cells.
11. Student explanation of the relationships between the
kidneys and the blood.
Student explanation of relationship of blood to
a. Nutrition.
b. Hormonal integration,
e. Nervous Integration.
Glass discussion and summary of the Integrating
functions of the blood.
REFERENCE WORKS
Bell, E. T., Textbook of Pathology; Philadelphia:
Lea and Febiger,
Fine chapter on normal blood; and pathological
conditions of the blood and vascular system.
Butterfield, H., The Origins of Modern Science. New
'fork: . The Macmillan Company, 1951•
A scholarly treatment of the rise of modern sci
ence, and accompanying changes in thought.
Gowdry, E. V., A Textbook of Histology. Philadelphia:
Lea and Febiger, 1944.
Emphasis on the integrating action of the blood.
Downey, H., editor, Handbook of Hematology. New York:
Paul Hoeber Company, 193B7
The great classic on the blood. In the English
language.
Fulton, 3. F., Selected Readings In Physiology.
Springfield, Illinois: Tnomas,1930.
Chapter II deals with historical classics on the
circulation of the blood.
Gold, H., editor, “The Rh Factor In Therapy," Cornell
Conferences on Therapy. New York: The Macmillan
Company , ' 19487 VoTTTTl.
Singer, C., A Short History of Biology. New York:
H. Schuman, 1950^
A fine summary of the work of William Harvey.
CHAPTER VI
THE NEED FOR STUDY OF THE ORGANISM AS A WHOLE, AS
SHOWN BY: A— THE WORK ON DIABETES MELLITUS
I. WAYS TO IMPLEMENT OBJECTIVES
1. Historical survey of knowledge of diabetes by the
instructor.
a. Diabetes known to physicians of India in seven
teenth century (sweet taste of wine).
b. Rediscovered by Willis, 167^*•
c. Claude Bernard produced by injury to floor of
fourth ventricle of brain, believed diabetes of
nervous origin, knew source of sugar was the
liver. (Experiment)
d. Von Mehrlng and Minkowski, 1889— complete removal
of pancreas from dogs results in syndrome identi
cal with human diabetes.
e. Allen, Jansen and Carlson— partial removal of
pancreas and may get mild diabetes.
f. Forschbach and LaBarrs— transfusion of diabetic
dogs with blood from normal dog and amelioration
of diabetes.
g. Carlson— pancreas of foetus protects mother dog,
the latter having had pancreas removed.
h. Gley (1905)» Scott (1911), Murlln and Kramer
(1913-1916), Kleiner (i919)— almost discovered
Insulin.
1. Macleod--advanced biochemical procedure making
possible quantitative measurement of blood sugar.
J. Banting and Best (1921)--,after destruction of di
gestive (alveolar) portion of pancreas by liga
tion of duets, obtained substance which would
lower blood sugar levels in normal dog, by al
coholic extraction. Named "insulin" by Schafer,
k. Houssay (1931)— hypothyaeetoray causes ameliora
tion of symptoms following pancreatectomy.
1. Long (1942)— adrenalectomy ameliorates symptoms
following pancreatectomy,
m. Young (1944)— degeneration of panereatle islets
and permanent diabetes mellitus by injection of
anterior pituitary extracts into dogs,
n. Lazarow (1949)— has produced permanent diabetes
in rats, rabbits and dogs by injections (intra
venous) of alloxan.
Class discussion (after reading) regarding the mean
ing of: Gland, endocrine gland, secretion, and
University or tooutnern caarorniauor«r,
102
hormone.
3. Obaervatlon by class of:
a. Ductless glands In cadaver.
b. Histologic structure of the pancreas.
(1) Distinguishing serous alveolar portions
from islets of Langerhans, in slides stained
with hematoxylin and eosin.
(2) Distinguishing, in slides prepared with
Mallory azan stain, in the islet tissue:
(a) Alpha cells (having large red granules,
which are Insoluble in alcohol).
(b) Beta cells (having small brown gran-
ules, which are soluble in alcohol--
histologic evidence for insulin being
produced by beta cells).
(c) Delta cells (having small blue gran
ules, Insoluble in alcohol).
4. Instructor to diagram hormonal control of blood
- sugar.
(See diagram on page 103.)
5. Experiments.
a. Students to make test on own urine for glucose.
DIAGRAM 1
HORMONAL CONTROL OF BLOOD SUGAR
ABSORPTION Of
glucose from
intestine
liver glycogen
4/5 lactic acid
S
t I
H
3
a
a
o.
H*
0» 0
0 . O '
3® „
» et
3 O
3 0)
M f l >
H» 3
3 H-
O
.07* - .
• blood
glucose
muscle glyeogen
no 0,
tissue cells
for oxidation
thyroxin
lactic acid
j i
o H
X f » j » M
*< o
m H-ctur
a » 0* H*
3
1
o
f
eo2 ♦ HgO
ir
at .2* to .3*
loss through ex
cretion by kidney
o
104
b. One group of students to gain some mastery of
quantitative Benedict test for blood sugar.
(l) Perform test on blood of rabbit. l?hen
administer 200 mgra/kgm alloxan (a, 4, 5,
6 tetraoxypyrimidine) intravenously (to
destroy Islet cells of pancreas) and two
dayslater again measure blood sugar quan
titatively.
6. Demonstration.
Manner of assay of unit of insulin by administer
ing subcutaneously measured volume of insulin to
produce convulsions in a weighed rabbit. Relieve
convulsions by administering glucose via stomach
tube.
7. Class discussion of the two theories as to the
ultimate metabolic defect in diabetes.
a. Overproduction of glucose from protein and fat
(Soskin).
b. Failure of the body to burn carbohydrate (Dusk).
c. Possibility of truth in both ideas.
8. Student to outline effects produced on the body by
diabetes, and the action of insulin on these effects.
1 0 5
9. Class discussion as to the mechanism of insulin
action.
a. Factors like low HQ, lack of carbohydrate
utilisation, etc., indicate that insulin exerts
its effect on peripheral utilization of carbo
hydrate.
b. But observations on diabetic hepatectomized
and on normal dogs, in relation to carbohydrate
balance, give evidence that insulin acts chiefly
on liver, by causing an overproduction of
glucose.
c. Views (a) and (b) may not be irreconcilable—
e.g., it is conceivable that diabetic does
oxidize carbohydrate at high blood sugar levels.
d. The relation between phosphorylation of glucose
by hexokinase, which is inhibited by a hormone
from the anterior pituitary and insulin, which
inhibits the hormone of the anterior pituitary.
10. Class discussion as to etiology of human diabetes,
after presentation by individual students of:
a. Other pancreatic factors than insulin— evidence
for the existence of such factors as: life of
depaneratized dog with Insulin not beyond eight
months unless there Is addition of pancreas,
or lecithin, or choline to diet; recent work on
extract from pancreas, Upscale, perhaps a
seeond hormone whieh can maintain dog without
any of the last three-named substances.
Anterior pituitary factors.
|l) Early evidence for influence of the pitui
tary.
(a) Instability of blood sugar level on
removal of anterior pituitary.
(b) Increased response of blood sugar to
Insulin in animal lacking anterior
pituitary, etc.
(2) Houssay removed anterior pituitary, and
there was amelioration of effects of pan
createctomy. But such surgery does not
completely compensate for the absence of
insulin, nor can it prolong life indefi
nitely.
Factors from the adrenal eortex.
(l) Early evidence from:
{a) Increased glycogen storage by the liver
and maintenance of blood sugar levels
by' infections of cortical extracts.
107
fb) Removal of both pancreas and adrenals
followed by injection of cortical ex
tracts— difficulties in not knowing
exact chemistry of cortical'extracts*
(2) Work of Long— injections of potent extracts
of adrenal cortex into panereatectomized and
adrena-iectomlzed dogs and rats* re&ults in
partial restoration of the diabetic state*
Action of cortieal hormone appears to be:
(a) Raising the level of blood glucose by:
(l1) Increasing formation of glucose
in liver and from fat.
(2*) Increasing formation of glucose
from proteins.
(3) Theories to explain that removal of either
adrenal cortex* or anterior pituitary
ameliorates the signs of diabetes and pro
longs the life of animals.
(a) The adrenal acts through the pituitary.
(b) The anterior pituitary acts through
the adrenal.
(e) Both have independent actions with sim
ilar end results.
11. Presentation by students of:
a. The chemical nature of Insulin.
b. Relation of the protein structure to Inability
to administer insulin orally.
c. Modifications of Insulin chemically to give
more gradual and uniform absorption.
Summary with class discussion.
a. The reasons insulin was not obtained earlier.
b. Biologieal investigation is often to be fruitful
only if the animal is dealt with as a whole.
c. Many questions relating to diabetes are still
unsolved.
(1) The reason for high blood pressure at an
early age among diabetics in careful in
sulin balance.
(2) The relation of diabetes to heredity.
£3) How fat is spared and ketone bodies not
formed when insulin is administered to
the diabetic.
(4) The chemical structure of the anterior
pituitary factor and the adrenal cortical
factor (related to diabetes} is an un
solved question.
(3) The believed mechanisms of action of insulin
are more questioned today than in 1925.
(6) The manner of action of insulin shock in
Improving cases of paranoid and eatetonic
schizophrenia is certainly not proven.
Public Health aspects of diabetes.
110
REFERENCE WORKS
Abel. J.. "Improved Biochemical Methods." Science.
1924, Vol. 55, P. 307.
Bennett, R., and F. Roberts, "Insulin Sensitivity of
Hypophysectomized Animals,H American Journal of
Physiology, 146:502, 1946.
Best, C., et al, "Diabetes by Anterior Pituitary
Extract Injection," American Journal of Physiol
ogy, 97:107, 1939.
Britten, S., and H. Silvette, "The Adrenal Cortex
and the Mobilization and Storage of Carbohy
drates," American Journal of Physiology, 122:
452, 1938:
Cecil, R., editor, Textbook of Medicine, eighth edi
tion. New York: The Macmillan Company, 1948.
(Therapy of Diabetes.)
Grollman, A., Essentials of Endocrinology, second
edition. Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott Com
pany, 1947*
Houssay, B., and J. Blasotti, "The Effects of Hypo-
physectomy on Pancreatic Diabetes," Endocrinology,
15:511, 1931.
Joslin, E. P., The Treatment of Diabetes Mellitus,
eighth edition! Philadelphia: Lea and Febiger,
1946.
Lazarow, A., "Factors in Diabetes," Physiological
Review, 28:4,8, 1949*
Ill
Long, C. N. H.. "The Anterior Pituitary and Pancreatic
Diabetes, Annual Review of Physiology, 4:465»
Mitchell, P., A Textbook of Biochemistry. New York:
The McGraw-Hill BooklTotnpany, Inc., 1946.
Murlin, P., "Oral Administration of Insulin," American
Journal of Physiology, 120s733* 1941.
Soskin, S., "The Mechanism of Pancreatic Diabetes,"
Physiological Review, 21:140, 1941.
Wright, S., Applied Physiology, ninth edition. London:
Oxford University Press, 1952.
Young, P., “Other Factors in Pancreatic Diabetes,"
Proceedings of the Royal Society of Medicine,
31:1305', I93B7------------- -----------
U'v'
CHAPTER VI I
THE NEED FOR STUDY OF MAN AS A WHOLE, AS SHOWN
BY: B— THE HORMONES IN HUMAN REPRODUCTION
I. WAYS TO IMPLEMENT OBJECTIVES1
1. Understanding terminology which Is basic to the
topic.
a. Class discussion (after reading) regarding the
meaning of:
(1) Gland
(2) Endocrine gland
(3) Secretion
(4) Hormone
2. Introduction to the topic.
a. Instructor to outline that:
(1) We have a tradition that sex and reproduction
1
The information in this chapter, especially that
relating to quantitative aspects, is based upon the fol
lowing text: G. W. Corner, The Hormones in Human Repro
duction (Princeton: Princeton UnlversityTresa, l94o).
must be attended by privacy, dignity, and
romance.
(2) That this is a good tradition provided we
add a fourth attribute, namely, understand
ing. (Otherwise, fundamental life activities
concerned with sex may become involved in
fears, inhibitions, and blind taboos.),
b. Since human physiology cannot always be subjected
to direct experiment, lower animals must be
studied to understand ourselves. Man is more
than an animal, in that he tries to understand
what he is doing and why he does it. In under
standing, and in right living based upon knowl
edge, lies our best hope of attaining dignity,
honor, and beauty in the physical life of man
kind .
The general scheme of animal reproduction, and the
place of mankind within this scheme.
a. The following all Involve detachment of living
bits of one generation, which bits grow up into
the next generation (to be observed under the
microscope):
(1) Fission, by parameclum.
(2) Spore formation, by Trichospherium.
114
(3) Gemmule formation, by the sponge.
(4) Medusa formation, by Obelia.
(5) Budding, by hydra.
b. Observation, with the microscope, of the follow
ing, and eonsideration of relationship of eaeh
to sexual reproduction:
(1) Conjugation, by paramedia.
(2) Eggs and sperm of hydra.
(3) Fertilization, and segmentation of living
eggs of sea urchin.
(4) Stained slides of the sperm of different
animals.
c. Class consideration of:
(1) The means of sperm transmission by the
sharks, most fish, amphibians, reptiles,
birds, mammals.
(2) Why is sex necessary?
(a) Why are there not several sexes?
(b) Why might not Nature have devised a
state of sexual relativity?
4. The control of ovarian physiology, and the function
of the ovarian hormones.
a. Through readings, explanations, pictures, and
other devices to understand that:
(1) The egg cell grows in a follicle (discovered
by de Graaf, 1672) in the ©vary; the egg
(discovered by von Baer, 1927— some 15©
years after the discovery of the sperm;
although the mammalian egg is visible to
the unaided eye), after discharge from the
ovary passes through the oviduct to the
uterus, and Is implanted in the lining of
the uterus (if the egg was previously fer
tilized by a sperm cell); cell division by
the egg (which began in the oviduct) con
tinues, culminating in development of the
complete animal, as outlined in Chapter IV.
The physiology of the ovary is controlled by
hormones from the naterlor portion of the pitui
tary gland.
(1) Evidence for the existence of two sex hor
mones from the anterior pituitary: -
(a) Effects of removal of the pituitary.
(b) Effects of injections of anterior pi
tuitary extracts into female animals
which have had pituitary removed.
The ovary is a tirae-piece, and the menstrual
cycle (like the ovary, Is under hormonal control) :
has the function of preparing the lining of the
uterus to reeeive the fertilized egg. The eggs
of mammals develop to maturity at regular inter*
vals. In most mammals there is a phase of sexual
responsiveness (oestrus) at the time of ripening
of the eggs, resultant mating, and fertilization
of the eggs. The reproductive cycle is consti
tuted by recurrence of these events.
In higher monkeys, apes, and the human race,
there is modification of the cycle characterized
by monthly disturbance in the uterus resulting
in menstruation. The ovaries, under control of
the anterior portion of the pituitary, produce
estrogenic hormones, which cause the organs of
the reproductive system (ovaries*, oviducts,
uterus, etc.) and the mammary glands, to grow to
maturity.
These estrogenic hormones are also responsible
for appearance and maintenance of the secondary
sexual characteristics of the adult.
After the discharge of the egg from the ovarian
follicle (and again, under control of another
hormone from the anterior pituitary), the lining
cells of the follicle become the corpus luteum.
The corpus luteum produces the hormones known as
progesterones; and the progesterones cause the
development of the food-rich uterine lining,
and the milk-secreting portions of the mammary
glands. The” uterine lining“is then able to re
ceive and nourish the fertilized egg.
i
g. Menstruation (a phenomenon limited to a few
, i
species of higher animals) is a periodic break
down of the uterine lining, after the corpus
luteum retrogresses). Bleeding at menstruation
is due to low blood levels of estrogens or pro-
. - c
gesterones. The significance of menstruation
is unknown.
Observations by students.
a. Female and male reproductive systems in cadavers.
b. Ovarian follicles and eggs, in microscopic
sections of ovary.
c. Eggs of the sow, obtained by Instructor, at
slaughter hours. They can be seen with the
unaided eye. *
d. Microscope slides showing:
(1) Corpus luteum.
(2) The uterine lining, during different phases
of the menstrual cycle.
(3) The mammary gland under the Influence of:
(a) Estrogens
(b) Progesterones
To determine quantitative aspects of progesterone
and estrogen secretion.
a. How was the amount of progesterone determined,
which will eause the development of the living
of the uterus of the rabbit?
Corner removed from the rabbit all but one
corpus luteum and that gave adequate progester
one for complete development of the living of the
uterus. Injection of progesterone required .13
mgm daily to give the same effect. So, in the
rabbit, one corpus luteum produces .13 mgm pro
gesterone daily. The volume of the rabbit's
corpus luteum is about 32.5 emm. Thus, .13 f
3.25 s *04 mgm of progesterone daily from 1 mgm
of rabbit's corpus luteum.
b. How much progesterone is made dally in the ovaries;
of one rabbit?
Modal number of corpora lutea for one
crop = 8. Thus, 8 x 3.25 x .04 = 1.04 mgm, the
modal daily output for one rabbit. And the range j
would be from .13 mgm when only one corpus luteum
to 2.3 mgm when a maximum of 18 corpora lutea are
present.
How much progesterone is produced dally by the
ovaries of the sow?
The sow is the source of most natural pro
gesterone and the one animal in which we know
the amount that is present at any one time. The
volume of one corpus luteum = about 525 cmm.
Assuming that the corpus luteum cell of the pig
is equal to that of the rabbit in progesterone
production, then one corpus luteum of the sow
would produce 21 mgm dally. And the modal number
of corpora lutea in the sow is 10. Thus, the
total daily output would be 210 mgm of progester
one.
How does the daily output compare with the amount
present in the ovaries at any one moment?
Ten corpora lutea of the sow weigh about
5 grams. Direct extraction yields .05 mgm pro
gesterone per gram of raw tissue. So, a sow
having 10 corpora lutea has about .25 mgm pro
gesterone in the ovaries at the moment of killing.
Then, if the total dally output is 210 mgm, the
amount present in the ovaries at any one time is
less than two minutes1 supply. So, the gland
makes hormones rapidly.
What Is the dally output of human corpus luteum?
Because of cavity, folded tissue and con
nective tissue, the volume Is hard to determine.
Comer estimates a volume of 500 cmm and, if
secretion Is comparable to the rabbit, this vol
ume is 150 times that of the rabbit. Therefore,
the dally output of the human is about 20 mgm
per day. This problem may also be attacked by
observing the quantity of progesterone which
must be administered to obtain "progestlonal
endometrium," or, since one-half progesterone
leaves the kidneys as sodium pregnandiol
glycuronldate, the latter compound may be
measured.
What Is the progesterone output of a single cell?
Diameter of cell is about .03 mm. There
fore, the volume of cell is about .000015 cmm
and the whole volume of one corpus luteum, di
vided by .000015 is 217,000. Allowing for blood
vessels, it is estimated that there are about
180,000 cells in one rabbit corpus luteum. And,
since 180,000 produce .13 mgm per day, one cell
produces about .0000007 mgm.
Corner estimates the number of epithelial cells
in the rabbit uterus to be 100,000,000. Thus,
121 |
the 180,000 cells of the corpus luteum each
affect about 500 epithelial cells.
h. How much estrogen is required daily by the
monkey?
(1) On removal of ovaries, there is uterine
bleeding which can be controlled by about
125 international units of estrogens per
day.
(2) Can be determined by giving castrated fe
male monkeys large doses of estrogenic hor
mone and then dropping the dosage until
bleeding sets in.
(3) Can also be determined by removing ovaries
of monkey, and observing the amount of es
trogen required to keep sex skin (red
swollen areas of rump and thighs) in this
condition. Comer found that 200 interna
tional units of estrogens were required
daily.
i. How much estrogen is produced dally by ovaries
of human?
On the basis of weight, Comer estimates
that human female produces 15 x 200 = 3>000 inter
national units of estrogen daily. We do not-know
the relationship between estrogen produced and
122
that which is excreted,*but 3*500 units can in
duce menstruation— like bleeding in female with
ovaries removed.
7* Summary relating to hormones concerned with female
reproductive functions.
a. The evidence for:
(1) The maintenance of pregnancy being dependent
upon hormones of the pituitary, ovary, and
placenta.
(2) The production by the placenta of gonado
trophic, estrogenic and progesteronic hor
mones .
b. There are many theories, but the explanation of
the onset of labor is unknown.
c. Lactation, as well as the development of the mam
mary gland is on a hormonal basis involving es
pecially the ovary and the anterior pituitary.
8. Summary relating to hormones concerned with male
reproductive functions.
a. The.problems to understand evidence for:
(l) The tubules of the testis being concerned
with sperm production, and the fact that
development of these tubules is dependent
on a hormone of the anterior pituitary.
(2) The male sex hormones, androgens, being
produced by cells lying between the tubules,
i.e., by the interstitial cells.
(3) The ductus deferns, seminal vesicles and
prostate, as well as the voice, beard, and
body fat distribution in the male being
dependent upon the androgenic hormones.
b. Observe these structures-in stained- microscopic
-sections, and, insofar as possible, on the
cadaver.
Summary and discussion.
a. The great complexity of the reproductive system,
and something of how little is still known.
b. The effects of castration" and such phenomena as
the castrate will not tan (but when sex hormone
is injected, then he "tans"— without additional
light).
c. Therapy, and its present limitations, with hor
mones , especially by pellet Implantation.
d. The sex hormones (like the hormones of the
adrenal cortex and the vitamins D) are steroids,
and many carcenogenic agents are steroids—
possible relationship between better understand
ing of chemistry of the hormones, and tumors of
pathological type.
124
REFERENCE WORKS
Allen, E., Sex and Internal Secretions. Baltimore:
Williams and Wilkins Company, 1^32.
Cameron, A. T., Recent Advances in Endocrinology,
sixth edition. Philadelphia: The Blakiston
Company, 194t.
Corner, G. W., The Hormones in Human Reprodaetlon.
Princeton: fhe Princeton University tress, 1943.
Greenblatt, R. T., Office Endocrinology. Springfield,
Illinois: Thomas, 1944.
Grollman, A., Essentials of Endocrinology. Phlladel
phia: J. ft. Llppinco¥t Company, 1§47.
Hoskins, R. G., Endocrinology. New York: Norton,
1941.
Wilkins, L., The Diagnosis and Treatment of Endocrine
Disorders. Springfield", Illinois: ’ FEfomas, 1950. !
CHAPTER VIII
SOME RELATIONSHIPS OP HEREDITY AND EVOLUTION
TO MAN
I. WAYS TO IMPLEMENT OBJECTIVES
Evidences for evolution.
a. Class to read and prepare paper on evidences for !
evolution, from:
(1) The geologic record.
(2) Chemical evidence— serum reactions.
(3) Comparative anatomy— classification, ves
tiges, embryology.
(4) Geographic distribution.
(5) Cultivated plants and domesticated animals.
Class consideration of:
a. Evolution being defined as "descent with modifi
cation. 1 1
b. The fact that most biologists believe that organic
evolution has occurred, but there is still wide
difference of opinion as to the process nature
employs to bring about evolution. Two major
problems need explanation:
(1) The manner of origin of hereditary varia
tions.
(2) The origin of new species.
Factors in nature which have interacted to bring
about an organic evolution.
a. Heredity— responsible for stability and continu
ity in a line of descent.
b. Mutation— responsible for Introduction of new
factors.
c. Sex— responsible for rapidly Introducing new
combinations of old factors.
d. Natural selection.
e. Isolation.
A detailed consideration of some aspects of heredity.
a. Some-historical background.
(1) Gregor Mendel's studies (published 1865)
formed the basis for modern Genetics— the
experimental study of heredity.
(2) Darwin postulated ”pangenes"— believed to
be carried by the blood.
(3) Weismann's experimental work tended to dis-
prove inheritance of acquired traits.
(4) Development of techniques for fixing,
staining, etc., of cells, and invention
of the microtome, led to better understand
ing of mitosis, and fertilization, and to
knowledge of meiosls.
(5) Mendel's works rediscovered in 1900.
(6) Sutton (1903) recognized that "genes1 ' in
"chromosomes" could give a morphological
basis for Mendel's findings.
(7) Morgan and Bridges, and work relating sex
to chromosomes and genes.
(8) Morgan's work relating to "linkage" and
"crossing-over."
Some necessary terminology:
(1) gene
(2) allele
(3) gamete
(4) gametic formula
(5) zygote
(6) homozygote
(7) heterozygote
(8) hybrid
(9) monohybrid
(10) dihybrid
(IX) genotype
(12) phenotype
(13) Px
(1*) Pi
(15) P2
(16) dominant
(17) recessive
Class discussion of Mendel's laws, and repre
sentation of monohybrid and dlhybrld crosses by
means of letters, and the "checkerboard"
diagrams.
Class consideration of the evidence for, and
explanation of:
(1) Absence of dominance.
(2) The backcross as a test for independent as
sortment .
(3) Complementary genes.
(4) Modifying genes.
(5) The multiple factor hypothesis.
(6) Both genes and environment being required
for the development of every character in
every organism.
(7) The conflicting data which led Morgan to
the concepts of "linkage" and "crossing-
over. ' *
(S) Sex determination, especially in relation
to the X and Y chromosomes.
(9) Sex-linked conditions, earried by the X
chromosome.
(a) Hemophilia.
(to) Red-green colorblindness, in man.
(10) Multiple alleles— as shown by inheritance
of the A-B-0 blood groups.
(11) The paternity tests.
(12) The Rh factor— in respect to childbirth and
multiple transfusions.
(13) Lethal genes.
e. Students to perform monohybrid and dihybrid
crosses with Drosophila and keep data through
i
the second filial generation--to verify Mendel's
laws.
Consideration of the nature -of mutation.
a. Chromosome changes.
(1) Tetraploidy.
(2) Aberrations in melosis.
(3) These quantitative changes— viz., (1) and
(2) are not considered adequate to account
for evolutionary changes.
b. Oene mutations are believed to be the basis for
most evolutionary change because:
(1) They are known to occur in laboratory
plants and animals.
(2) The complex organic compounds of the chromo
some are not highly stable.
'(3) Physical factors— e.g., radiations and high
temperatures--increase the rate-of mutation.
(4) Difficulties in the theory that gene
- mutations provide the essential raw material
for evolution:
(a) Most mutations are deleterious.
(b) Mutations may not be frequent enough.
The probable role of mutation in evolution.
a. Mutation is probably not an important factor
because:
(l) It is a random process, usually not benefi
cial, most often deleterious.
Natural selection is generally accepted by biologists
as the guiding factor of evolution. Natural selec
tion involves:
a. That heritable variations occur, and occur at
random.
b. The less fit fail to survive.
131
c. Variations have different survival values.
d. Natural seleetion acts only on phenotypes.
8. Consideration of natural selection in terms of genes
of a sexually reproducing species.
a. Acting against a dominant gene, natural selection
could possibly destroy this gene in a single
generation.
b. Acting against a recessive gene, a greater number
of generations would be required, because the
recessive gene does not express itself in the
heterozygous state.
9* Isolation is essential to evolution to permit new
types arising by mutation to establish new species.
a. Types of Isolation.
(1) Geographic isolation.
(2) Biotic Isolation.
{3) Reproductive isolation.
(4) Climatic isolation.
10* Sex, by multiplying variation, accelerates evolu
11. The methods of human genetics.
a. Methods telling whether the variability of a
r\ 132
human character is genetically determined, and,
if so, to what extent. These include:
(1) Methods in which heredity is kept constant
and environment is made a variable— e.g.,
twin studies.
(2) Methods where environment is somewhat con
stant and heredity is a variable— e.g.,
children In orphanages, and foster children
raised with “true*’ children.
(3) Methods which consist of correlation studies
of parent-offspring resemblances.
b. Methods telling about the genetic basis of vari
ability and the mode of inheritance.
(1) Statistical procedures.
(2) The pedigree method.
12. Class consideration of complex human characters
having a genetic basis.
a. Stature.
b. Intelligence.
c. Dementias.
13. Consideration of the present status of Eugenics as
compared to Euthenlcs.
133
REFERENCE WORKS
Dodson, E. 0., A Textbook of Evolution. Philadelphia;
W. B. Saunders Company, 1§52.
Dunn, L. A., Genetics in the Twentieth Century* New
York: The Macmillan Company, 195I.
Essays on the progress of genetics during its
first fifty years.
Goldschmidt, R. B., Understanding Heredity. New York;
John Wiley and Sons, 1952.
Pauli, W. F., The World of Life. New York: Houghton
Mifflin Company, 19W*
A general biology built around evolution as a
unifying principle.
Stern, Curt, Principles of Human Genetics. San
Franciscol W. H. Freeman, 1949*
Winchester, A. M., Genetics. New York: Houghton
Mifflin Company,.1951* -
A semi-popular account of genetics.
CHAPTER IX
MAN IN RELATION'TO SOME BIOLOGICAL ASPECTS OP
ATOMIC ENERGY
I. WAYS TO IMPLEMENT OBJECTIVES
Introduction.
a. Consideration of why Belgium recovered so rapidly*
economically, after World War II— Belgian Congo
and uranium.
b. More than eighty companies in the United States
make Instruments related to radioactive work.
c. Enrico Fermi received the Nobel Prize in Physics
for an erroneous conclusion.
Discovery of fission.
a. It was not believed possible to Influence radio
active disintegration before this accomplishment
by Hahn and Strassmann (Berlin, 1938).
b. Neutron bombardment of uranium gave barium.
c. Possibility of chain reaction realized.
135
3* Factors concerned In fission.
a. Uranium 235 separation from uranium 238 by
physical methods— gaseous diffusion, and mass
spectrography.
b. Neutrons slowed down (so uranium 233 could cap
ture) by carbon, which must be 99*9999 per cent
pure— in uranium pile.
c. Industry played very great role in production of
atomic bomb.
d. Production of bomb was a desperate race.
e. Probably fifty year advance In this field of
physies, in a period of five years.
f. In our day, science alone would not have accom
plished atomic bomb.
(1) Vast cooperation of science, government,
and industry.
(2) - Cost of Manhattan Project over two billion
dollars*
Explosion of the bomb.
a. Involves ordinance problem of combining subcriti-
cal masses of uranium 235 or plutonium to give
chain reaction.
b. Temperature on explosion around two million de-
grees Centigrade,
e. Other aspects: shock rays, light rays, alpha,
beta, gamma, neutrons, ultraviolet> infra-red
rays, cloud of smoke ten miles high,
d. Destructive factors from bomb at Hiroshima.
(1) Thermal effects.
(2) Blast effects.
(3) Pressure waves and fire storm.
'(4) Radiation effects.
(5) Casualties— 100,000 deaths, 200,000 injured.
(6) Material damage--68,000 or 75,000 homes
destroyed.
There is a possible defense for cities.
a. Five feet of concrete will protect person who
is near center of explosion.
b. One foot less than five of concrete, for every
thousand feet from the center of the explosion,
will proteet.
c. As long as Geiger counter will work, persons are
not being exposed to dangerous intensities of
cosmic radiations— in area where explosion has
occurred.
d. Hospital equipment should be widely dispersed—
137
perhaps In connection with schools, which could
serve as emergency hospitals.
6. Selected reading by students on any aspect of radio
activity.
7. Saturday morning visit to the cyclotron, and the
Crocker Radiation Laboratory (Berkeley).
8. Effects of Ionizing Radiation.
a. Continuous exposure to cosmic radiation, and
radiations from soil and water--rarely inte
grates to more than twenty roentgens in a
lifetime.
b. External radiation from x-ray tube.
c. Internal radiation— e.g., from radium poisoning,
or administration of radioactive isotppes.
d. Senses do not detect Ionizing radiations—
detect by photographic film, electroscope,
Geiger counter.
e. There are four types of ionizing radiation—
alpha particles, beta particles, gamma rays,
and neutrons.
f. The more penetrating the radiation— e.g., gamma
ray, the less absorption by a given unit of
tissue, and the less the biologic effect.
g. Mechanism of action of ionizing irradiations on
protoplasm.
fl) Formation of ion pairs which disrupt pro
teins and intracellular enzyme systems.
(2) Formation of hydrogen peroxide; also heat
ing of tissue.
h. The lower the form of life the less the effect
of irradiation.
1. The more rapidly cells multiply the greater their
susceptibility.
J. From experimental exposure of animals, permis
sible occupational exposure in man is set at
three-tenths of one roentgen per week; danger
is to germ cells; lymphocytic increase by twenty
roentgens; sickness by seventy-five roentgens;
several times four hundred roentgens often
given to restricted region of body, in treating
eancer, without sickness,
k. The principle of therapeutic irradiation of
tumors rests on:
(1) Tumor cells more responsive to radiation
than normal.
(2) Tumor cells more rapidly growing than normal.
(3) Damage to blood vessels of region, therefore
Impaired nutrition.
Radiation sickness, due to absorption of protein
spllt-products from damaged tissues.
(1) On irradiation of specific area— e.g.,
tumor. Nausea is major symptom.
(2) On irradiation of entire body for short
time— four phases:
(a) Malaise.
(b) Phase of well being.
(c) Period of severe illness.
(d) Recovery or death.
Very great radiation and death within hours or
days— only symptoms are weakness, prostration
and leukopenia.
Most sensitive normal cells are lymphocytes,
followed by erythroblasts and precursors of
granulocytes. If white cell count falls below
2,000 per cubic millimeter within first few days
following exposure, recovery is unlikely.
Hemorrhagic manifestations due to thrombocyto
penia, capillary damage, lessened coagulability
of blood. (Reached peak in Hiroshima survivors
about six weeks after exposure.)
Severe anemia develops after several weeks—
aphasia of bone marrow.
q. Leukopenia permits infection to become estab
lished— multiple cutaneous abscesses, stomatitis,
and cellulitis of neck are most frequent.
r. Skin lesions develop late (usually death pre
cedes)— ulcerration, edema, and transient epi
lation.
s. Transient sterility in the male, no sterility in
the female.
t. Alternations in the germ plasm may produce more
mutations (one or two more per thousand births
expected) than in unexposed populations.
Therapy.
a. Several whole blood transfusions.
b. Antibiotics to control infections.
c. Parenteral feeding including the amino acid
complexes.
d. Vitamins.
e. Toluidine blue as an antlheparln agent.
Effects of chronic low-level radiation.
a. In past among radiologists, painters of watch
dials, etc., resulted in damaged bone marrow
and death (see above).
b. Believed contrast in Soviet and United States
protection of workers.
141
11. Medical effects of the atomic bomb.
i
a. Residual ionizing radiation after burst.
(1) In air burst, are swept up into strato
sphere and dispersed--probably no damage
resulting.
{2) In underwater burst, residual ionizing ra
diation (in water, and in cloud resulting
from explosion) is very serious problem.
b. Crush injuries from falling structures, and
lacerations from flying glass, in an air burst.
c. Bums are of two types:
(1) Plash burns— from direct heat ©f explosion
usually restricted to exposed area of skin;
in Nagasaki, developed as far away as two
miles from center of effects.
(2) Flame burns— due to fires incident to the
explosion of the bomb.
(3) Bums are treated as would be comparable
burns from non-atomlc sources.
d. Ionizing radiation: Is almost instantaneous,
and if a dose of over four hundred roentgens to
whole body, death is probable.
(l) Symptoms are nausea, vomiting and diarrhea.
142
(2) Ulcers, and septicemia from destruction of
white blood cells.
(3) Hemorrhages (for first six weeks) due to
damage of platelets, capillary walls, and
liver.
(4) Death (if after six weeks) due to bone mar
row damage.
(5) Survivors of acute stage return to approxi
mately normal (Ufipan).
12. Radlosotopes (class discussion led by instructor).
a. Definition and distinction from non-radioactlve
isotope.
b. Manner of production ©f radioisotopes.
""•A
(1) Cyclotron, Synehro-cyelotron, Betatron, and
the Synchrotron.
c. Values of radioisotopes.
(1) As tracers in the biochemistry of metabolism
— e.g., radioisotopes of carbon, iron,
sodium, etc.
(2) As therapeutic agents.
(a) Radioactive phosphorus in:
(•1 ’ ) Polycythemia vera
(2') The leukemlas
(3*) Multiple myeloma
(b) Radioidlne in cancer of the thyroid(?).
(c) Radioactive gold, sodium, and manganese
in: chronic leukemia and Hodgkin's
disease.
(d) Radioactive sodium, strontium and
calcium.
144
REFERENCE WORKS
Allen, J. G., et al, "Heparinemia," Journal of Experi
mental Medicine,,87:71-85, 1948.
Barry, M. C., "A Method for Measuring Radioiodine in
Biological Materials," Journal of Biological
Chemistry, 175:179, 194F:
Behrens, C. F., Atomic Medicine. New York: Thomas
Nelson and Sons, 1949.
Bloom, W., and H. Curtis, "Deposition of Radioactive
Carbon in Bone," Science, 105:45, 1947.
Committee on Atomic Casualties, "Genetic Effects of
The Atomic Bombs in Hiroshima and Nagasaki,"
Science, 106:331-33, 1947.
Daland, E. M., "Surgical Treatment of Postirradiation
Necrosis," American Journal of Roentgenology,
46:287, 194T:-------------------------------
Evans, T. C.§ "Radioautographs," Sociological and
Experimental Biology and Medicine, 64:3r3, 1947.
Hartsell, K. D., Opportunities in Atomic Energy. New
York: Vocational Guidance Manuals, 1951*
Hopley, R. J., Civil Defense for National Security.
Washington, B.C.1 United States Government
Printing Office, 1942.
Kamen, M. D., Radioactive Tracers in Biology. New
York: Academic Press, 194?.
145
Lawrence, J. S., A. H. Dowdy, and W. N. Valentine,
"Effects of Mediation on Hemopoiesis," Radiology
51:400, 1948.
Lea, D. 1., Actions of Radiations on Living Cells.
New York: The Macmillan Company, 194?*
Liebow, A. A.# and S. Warren, "Pathology of Atomic
Bomb Casualties," American Journal of Pathology,
25:853, 1949.
Smyth, H. D.* Atomic Energy for Military Purposes.
Princeton! Princeton University tress, 194b.
Warren, S., "The-Effects of Radiations on Normal
Tissues," Archives of Pathology, Vol. 35,
January-February, 1W3 •
, "The Therapeutic Use of Radioactive Phos-
pKorus," American Journal of Medical Science,
209 :801 , 1545 " .
CHAPTER X
SOME ASPECTS OP DISEASE IN RELATION TO MAN
©
Class discussion of the immediate causes of disease.
a. Disease may be caused by a great variety of non
living agents:
(1) Chemical poisons, acting in various ways
and upon various tissues and organs.
(2) Undue exposure to physical factors— e.g.,
light, heat, radioactive substances.
(3) Foreign proteins, certain drugs, etc.,—
i.e., allergic conditions.
(4) Psychologic disturbances, resulting in
neuroses, or more severe conditions known
as psychoses.
(5) Metabolic disturbances, either Inherited or
acquired— e.g., hemophilia, diabetes, etc.
(6) Deficiency diseases— e.g., scurvy, pellagra,
rickets, etc.
b. Much disease is due to the activities of living
organisms.
(See Table I, pages 147-150.)
147
TABLE I
THE LIVING ORGANISMS WHICH ARE ETIOLOGIC
AGENTS OF HUMAN DISEASE
Organism
Character!sties
of the
organism
Examples of disease
for which organism
is.etlologle agent
VIRUSES 1. Very small (poliomyelitis
12 raillimicra; lymphogran
uloma venereum, 400 railli-
mlera).
2. All produce disease.
3. Biological nature not
well known:
a. Multiply in cells.
b. Can be prepared in
crystalline form.
c. Evoke typical sim
ilar diseases.
d. Have definite anti
genic structure.
e. Have great capacity
for variation.
RICKETTSIA 1.
2.
Only some are visible
with light microscope.
Rod or spherical in
shape.
BACTERIA
3. Pathogens all live
within cells.
4. Transmitted by arthro
pods, except Q fever.
3. Killed by temperature
of 50°C, but can live
at -20 C.
1. Colorless plant forms,
divide by simple fftsslon.
smallpox
poliomyelitis
mumps
measles
colds
Influenza
rabies
yellow fever
pneumonia
etc.
typhus
Rocky Mountain
spotted fever
scrub'typhus
Q fever
et c.
diphtheria
143
TABLE I (continued)
THE LIVING ORGANISMS WHICH ARE ETIOLOGIC
AGENTS OP HOMAN DISEASE
Organism
Characteristics
of the
organism
Examples of disease
for which organism
is etiologic agent
YEASTS
2. Rod# spherical, and
spiral shapes
3. Nuclei not yet demon
strated .
4. Some form resistant
spores.
3. Pathogens are parasitic.
6. Only few are pathogens;
nearly all are valuable
to man.
1. Small, single-celled,
non-colored fungi.
2. Reproduce by budding,
and/or spores.
1. Fungi, with branching
threads called hyphae.
.2. Aerial portion of
hyphae bear spores.
SPIROCHETES 1. Slender, corkscrew
shape.
2. Move with undulating
and rotating motion
3* Granular forms exist.
4. Divide by transverse
fission (as do bacteria)
MOLDS
whopping
cough,,
scarlet fever
pneumonia
tuberculosis
rat bite
fever
plague, etc.
thrush
meningitis
encephalitis
pneumonia
etc.
ringworm
athlete's foot
actinomycosis
sporotri
chosis, etc.
syphilis
yaws
relapsing
fever
TABLE X (continued)
THE LIVING ORGANISMS WHICH ARE ETIOLOGIC
AGENTS OF HOMAN DISEASE
Organism
Characteristics
of the
organism
Examples of disease
for which organism
is etiologie agent
PROTOZOA
FLATWORMS:
FLUKES
but are attacked by
drugs which affect
protozoa.
5* Have no demonstrated
nucleus.
6. Require serum, blood
or tissue for growth.
7. Resistance resembles
that for non-spore-
formlng bacteria.
1. Are animal forms.
2. Slower multiplication,
and pathogens cause
different types of
disease than do bacteria.
3* Are classified as to
means of locomotion:
a. Sarcodina move by
pseudopods.
b. Clliata move by
cilia.
e. Mastigophora move
by ffagella.
d. Sporozoa have no means
of loeomotlon.
1. Unsegmented, leaf-shaped
body
plnta
etc. -
malarias
amoebic
dysentery
sleeping
sickness
Leishmani
asis
intestinal
150
TABLE I (continued)
THE LIVING ORGANISMS WHICH ARE ETIOLOGIC
- AGENTS OF HUMAN DISEASE
1
Organism
Characteristics Examples of disease
of the for which organism
organism is etiologic agent
2.
3-
Only one opening to
digestive tract.
Flat body has three
layers.
liver
lung
blood flukes
TAPEWORMS
1. Flat, ribbon-like body
Is segmented.
adults live
in Intestine
2. No mouth or digestive
tract.
larvae live
in tissues
3-
Body has three layers. from: beef,
pork, fish
ROUNDWORMS 1. Round, unsegmented body. hookworm
.
asearis
2. Complete digestive tract whipworm
-
with mouth and anus. pin worm
3.
Sexes separate. Strongyloldes ;
guinea worm
4. Adults live In intes
tines or tissues of man;
larvae in tissues or
blood or lymph.
trichina worm
filiaria of
elephantasis
etc.
151
2. Contributions to the concept of living organisms
being etiologic agents of disease.
a. The. greatest contributions to this concept were
made during the last half of the nineteenth
century. The greatest contributors were Louis
Pasteur and Robert Koch.
f1) The contributions of Pasteur were funda
mental to the present understanding of;
(a) Crystallography.
(b) Fermentation.
(c) Diseases of wines and beers.
(d) The improbability of spontaneous gen
eration.
(e) Immunity:
(11) Vaccines against chicken cholera
(organisms attenuated by aging),
and anthrax (organisms attenu
ated by heat).
(2*) Immunization against rabies.
(2) The contributions of Robert Koch.
(a) Discovery and significance of bacterial
spores.-
(b) Developed bacteriology to the status of
a separate science by:
152
(l1) Using aniline dyes to raise the
microscopic visibility of bac
teria.
(2') Using transparent, solid media
to make possible the growth of
organisms in pure culture.
(c) Koch and his students discovered the
organisms of tuberculosis; cholera;
- typhoid fever, diphtheria, and gonor
rhea.
3* Glass consideration of the portals of entry of living
organisms into the body.
a. Respiratory tract.
b. Digestive tract.
— c. Skin.
d. Sensory structures.
e. Reproductive organs.
ty. Pactors in bacterial disease production.
a. Ability of the organisms to Invade the tissues#
and to multiply in the tissues.
b. Toxins: exotoxins and endotoxins.
c. Virulence of the organisms.
(1) Encapsulated organisms not readily phago-
cytosed; and antibody blockage.
(2) Leucocidin: kills leucocytes.
(3) Hyaluronidase (spreading factor) increases
permeability of tissues.
(4) Fibrinolysln: liquifies blood clot.
d. Dosage of organisms.
e. Susceptibility of host.
(l) Factors decreasing susceptibility:
(a) Exposure to cold, radiations, etc.
(b) Malnutrition.
(e) Poor sanitation.
(d) Density of population.
(e) Presence of another disease, e.g.,
cold, influenza, scarlet fever.
(f) Sex.
(g) Race.
Factors in the body's defense against bacterial
disease.
a. Defensive factors of the skin and mucous mem
branes.
b. Natural immunity is innate to species, race, etc.
c. Acquired immunity:
(l) Active Immunity is a specific immunity, in
response to introduction of organisms or
toxins.
(a) Naturally acquired active immunity—
from successive small exposures.
(to) Artificially acquired passive immunity,
e.g., from a serum.
d. Passive immunity.
Cl) Naturally acquired passive Immunity, e.g.,
from mother to foetus, through the placenta.
(2) Artificially acquired passive immunity, e.g.;,
from a serum.
Class observation of;
a. The various types of living organisms which are
etiologic agents of human disease.
b. Stained bacteria showing spores.
c. Method of Isolating bacteria in pure culture,
on solid media.
d. Anaphylactic shock in guinea pig, after injecting
second quantity of egg white.
Each student to prepare:
a. Stained microscope slide of organisms from
mouth; and slides of organisms from hands, be
fore and after washing hands with soap and water.
1 5 5
b. Cough plate.
e. Gram stain slides of Gram-positive and Gram-
negative bacteria,
d. A pure culture of one organism from a mixed cul
ture in liquid medium.
8* Class consideration of types of antibodies, and
probable site of antibody formation.
a. Antitoxins.
b. Opsonins.
c. Agglutins.
d. Hemolysins.
e. Precipitins.
f. Bactericidal substances.
9. Member of class to list differences between a vac
cine and a serum.
a. Vaccine:
(1) Contains bacteria or their products.
(2) The human body produces antibodies.
(3) Weeks are required for the body to build
defense.
(4) The defense lasts for months or years.
b. Serum:
(1) Contains antibodies.
156
(2) The body builds no antibodies.
(3) Defense is active in a few hours.
(%) Defense lasts only a few weeks.
10. Class consideration of;
a. Types of vaceines.
b. Diseases for which we have an effective vaccine
or serum.
c. Effectiveness of vaccination when left to the
family doctor.
d. Legality of vaccination.
e. Vaccination in travel to foreign countries.
f. Diseases against which every child should be ac
tively immunized very early in life.
(1) Diphtheria.
(2) Smallpox.
( 3 ) Whooping cough.
11. Theoretical consideration of chemical disinfection.
a. Distinction between disinfectant (germicide,
bactericide) and antiseptic (bacteriostatic).
b» Properties desirable in a germicide.
(1) High potency with low toxicity to tissue-
cells.
(2) Ability to penetrate mucous, pus, etc., in
vitro water tests are invalid.
(3) Low surface tension, to spread rapidly.
(4) Esthetically pleasant, as to odor, color,
stains.
(5) A proper temperature coefficient.
(6) Stability.
(7) Rapid action.
(8) Inexpensive.
(9) No interference with protective mechanisms
(antibodies, phagocytes) of host.
Disinfection by chemicals is primarily a chemical
process, involving:
(1) Faetors relating to the chemical disinfec
tant :
(a) Chemical nature of the disinfectant—
e.g., inorganic, organic.
(b) Ionization constant.
(c) Concentration.
(d) Solubility at site of action.
(e) Affinities for bacterial protoplasm
or metabolic factors.
(f) Mode of action—>e.g., oxidation,
precipitation, etc.
(2) Faetors relating to the bacteria:
(a) Species of organism.
(b) Chemical composition of organism.
(c) Growth phase— young cells are often
more susceptible than old.
(d) Special structures— e.g., spores, cap
sules .
(e) Previous history— resistant forms pro
duced by gradually increasing exposure
to disinfectant.
(f) Dissociation in relation to differences
in susceptibility.
(g) Number of bacteria in test mixtures.
General factors affecting both components
and the process as a whole.
(a) Temperature: the temperature coeffi
cient of disinfection is high:
(b) Surface phenomena, especially absorp
tion, surface tension, changes in per
meability and diffusion.
(c) Hydrogen ion concentration.
(d) Presence of other elctrolytes, which
influence both ionization of the dis
infectant and the properties of the
cell.
(e) Presence of organic substances, es-
1 5 9
pecially proteins, which diminish the
action of the disinfectant.
(f) Pressure— important in relation to
gaseous substances.
(g) Time.
12. Our knowledge of the mode of action of chemical dis
infectants.
(See Table II, page 160.)
13. Glass discussion.
a. The toxicology of the sulfonamides and the newer
antibiotics, and the resources open to the thera
pist in these Instances.
b. The dangers of underdosage with sulfonamides and
other antibiotics.
(1) Development of resistant strains of organ
isms.
(2) Possible sensitization to the sulfonamides.
(3) Gompare resistance with that of spirochetes
to arsphenamlnes.
e. The prophylactic use of the sulfonamides in
streptococcal infections and rheumatic fever*
d. Maintainanee of proper blood levels of the
sulfonamides.
TABLE II
ACTION OP CHEMICAL DISINFECTANTS
Antiseptic group Mode of action
Phenols, cresols,
resorcinols
Alcohols
Aldehydes
Methenamine
Acids
Halogens
Oxidizing agents
Heavy metals
Antiseptic dyes
Sulfonamides
The antibiotics
Denature or coagulate proteins
Denature proteins
Remove water, coagulate proteins
Liberation of formaldehyde (?)
By hydrogen ion, or whole acid
molecule
Not well understood— may add to
protein
Release nascent oxygen, or other
wise change balance
Release ions which eoagulate
proteins
Physical-chemical union with
bacterial proteins
Replace para amino benzoic acid
(an essential metabolite) in
the enzyme system of the bac
terial cell
Unknown--believed Closely related
to growth processes of bacteria
161
e. The complementary therapeutic action of strep
tomycin {attacks primarily Gram-negative organ
isms) and penicillin (attacks primarily Gram-
positive organisms).
f. The work of Florey and Waksman in relation to
the discovery of antibiotics.
g. Why did the United States decide not to try to
make synthetic antibiotics during the past war?
h. Heading by the class on:
(1) Evaluation of local antiseptics.
(2) The use of aureomycln in treating rickettsial
diseases.
(3) The use of streptomycin in treating tuber
culosis.
(4) The use of penicillin in treating syphilis
and gonorrhea.
14. Some considerations with respect to cancer.
a. At the present time cancers are the second lead
ing cause of death in the United States,1 claim
ing the lives of nearly 200,000 victims, annually;
W. W. Stiles, Individual and Community Health
(New York: The Blaklston Company, 1953); citing informa-
tion frltm the National Office of Vital Statistics for
1949, p. 431.
Cancer is an unrestricted growth of cells.
(1) Fulfills no need.
(2) Does not differentiate toward function.
(3) No growth restraint.
(^) Spread is by permeation, and through lymph
and blood vessels.
(3) Malignancy and course vary as to organ.
(a) Little in common between eaneer of the
skin and cancer of breast.
Cause of cancer is unknown.
(1) Heredity.
(a) Experiments of Little and Slye with
mice.
(b) Milk factor.
(g) Man cannot be bred, as can animals.
(2) A single blow does not cause cancer.
(3) Chronic irritation is an accepted factor
in cause of cancer.
(a) Mouth: tobacco, syphilis, carous
teeth.
(b) Skin: scars, lupus, Irradiation, car
cinogenic substances.
(c) Cervix: lacerations.
(4) Not contagious.
(a) Filterable virus causes chicken sarcoma.
(5) Hormones.
(a) Androgens Increase eaneer of prostate;
estrogens inhibit.
(b) Androgens and estrogens affect cancer
of the breast.
(6) Carcinogenic agents:
(a) Coal tar derivatives.
(b) Arsenic.
(c) Analin dyes.
(d) Irradiation.
Pathology of tumors.
(1) Tumors are benign or malignant.
(2) Characteristics of benign tumors:
(a) Cells resemble those of tissue of
origin.
(b) Do not spread through blood and lymph.
(c) Tend to be walled off by connective
tissue.
(d) Removal not normally followed by re
currence.
(3) Characteristics of malignant tumors:
(a) Cells embryonic in type.
. j .
(b) Tend to spread through blood and lymph,
and to form metastases in other re
gions .
164
(c) Usually not walled off by connective
tissue.
(d) If metastases, death is probable, re
gardless of therapy.
e. Pre-cancerous conditions.
(1) Old ulcers and scars.
(2) Moles which become darker.
(3) Tumors.
(4) Keratoses.
f. Microscopic demonstrations of:
(1) Normal tissues and organs.
(2) Benign and malignant tumors.
g. Warning signs and symptoms which should be in
vestigated to rule out cancer:
(1) Change in form or color of any wart, mole,
or birthmark.
(2) Any sore, especially of the lips, that does
not heal.
(3) Persistent hoarseness lasting more than a
few weeks.
(4) Painless lump or thickening, especially of
the breast, lip or tongue.
(5) Persistent indigestion.
(6) Abnormal bloody discharge from any body
opening.
(7) Radical changes in the bowel habits.
Diagnosis.
(1) 0n symptoms and examination.
(2) X-ray and laboratory studies.
(3) Biopsy.
Treatment.
(1) Prophylactic.
(a) Remove chronie irritation— dangerous
trades.
(b) Removal of precancerous lesions.
(2) Surgical.
(a) Standardized for mouth, breast, rectum,
stomach, uterus.
(b) Not,advisable if ease ls Incurable.
(c) Secondary operations usually of little
value.
(d) Palliative operations may be advis
able— for obstruction of rectum,
pylorus, etc.
(3) Irradiation.
(a) Employed chiefly in cancer of mouth,
larynx, cervix, skin.
(b) Curative in some cases, palliative in
nearly all.
(c) Prophylactic radiation treatment is of
questionable value.
(4) Hormones.
(a) Probable value in cancer of prostate,
j. Caneer control is aimed at early diagnosis and
prompt, adequate treatment.
(1) Methods of control:
(a) Education of laity and physicians.
(b) Cancer research laboratories, e.g.,
Sloan-Kettering.
(I1) Work on virus, hormone, antlfollc
acid, etc., therapy.
(c) Cancer clinics, e.g., Strang Cancer
Prevention Clinic.
(d) Cancer hospitals, e.g., James Ewing
Cancer Hospital.
Class consideration of some failures of the theory
of microbe origin of disease.
a. How does an Infectious disease originate in the
first place?
b. Why is man the only animal which suffers from
typhoid fever?
c. Why, if diseases are traced through history, do
their types change?
167
d. The sex hormones (like the hormones of the
adrenal cortex and the vitamins B) are steroids
and many carcenogenlc agents are steroids. Sug
gests possible relationship between better under
standing of chemistry of the hormones, and
tumors of pathological type.
168
REFERENCE WORKS
Anderson, G., and M. Arnstein, Communicable Disease
Control. New York: The MacmillanCompany, 1948.
The family technique in caring for a communi
cable disease at home, pp. 122-126.
Basted©, W. A., Pharmacology and Therapeutics. Phila
delphia: J. Saunders dompany, 1040.
Good on some aspects of the manner of antiseptic
action.
Edmund, B., and J. Gunn, Cushings1s Pharmacology and
Therapeutics. Philadelphia: Lea and Febiger,
i W T - ---------
Classifies antiseptics on a functional basis.
Florey, H., Antibiotics. London: Oxford University
Press, 1049.
A survey of penicillin, streptomycin, etc.
Gold, H., editor, Cornell Conferences on Therapy.
New York: The Macmillan Company. Vol. 2, 1947»
Evaluation of Local Antisepsis; Vol. 3» 1948,
Gses of Streptomycin.
Goodman, L., and A. Gilman, The Pharmacological
Basis of TherapeuticsNew York: The Macmillan
Company, 1041.
A very readable survey of the field of antiseptics!
Kolmer, J. A., Penicillin Therapy, seeond edition.
New York: Appieton-Century Company, 1947.
Reports on results of therapy with many anti
biotics.
Long, P. H., A.B.C.»s ©f Sulfonamide and Antibiotic
Therapy. Philadelphia: J. B.Saunders Company,
10*87
Good on theory of antibiotic action.
Smith, D. T., et al, Zinsser’s Textbook of Bacteriol
ogy. New York: Appieton-CenturyCompany, 19^8.
A fine treatment of the medical aspects of Bac
teriology.
Sollmann, T. A., Manual of Pharmacology. Philadelphia:
J. B. Saunders Company, 1946.
An encyclopedic treatment of the antiseptics.
Stiles, W. W., Individual and Community Health. New
York: The Blaklston Company, 1953*
The American Cancer Society, Cancer: A Manual for
Practitioners, second edition. Boston: Rumford
Press, 19$^*
A comprehensive, readable treatment of the pres
ent status of the cancer problem.
Tobey, J. A., Public Health Law, third edition. New
York:: The Commonwealth Fund, 19^7*
For information concerning the legal status of
vaccination.
CHAPTER XI
MAN AND SOME SOCIAL ASPECTS OF MEDICAL CARE
I. WAYS TO IMPLEMENT OBJECTIVES
Introduction. This topic was designed to give stu
dents an understanding that:
a. Adequate medical care involves more than mere
knowledge of Medicine, Surgery, Nursing,
Dentistry, Pharmacy, Public Health and Preventive
Medicine, etc., by those who practice in these
fields.
b. Adequate medical care Involves also an awareness
by the citizens as to the existence of advances
in these fields, and the desire (even unto taxa
tion) to avail themselves of the benefits of
those advances.
c. There should be concern about the effects of
industrialization, and with the possibility of
an organized, nationwide, tax-supported system
of medical care.
d. There is value in investigating what other
171
communities and countries have done with respect
to health problems.
2. Instructor to outline briefly the development of the
Mayo Clinic.
a. "An experiment in cooperative individualism,"
it has been vitally dependent (according to Dr.
William Mayo } upon three factors:
(1) "An active ideal of service instead of per
sonal profit."
(2) "A primary and sincere concern for the in
dividual patient."
(3) "An unselfish Interest of every member of
the group in every other member."
b. In 1917 the Mayo Foundation was established as
a part of the Graduate School of the University
of Minnesota.
(1) Some 230 Fellows (usually almost every
medical school in the United States is
represented* and usually some 30 foreign
countries have Fellows) on the Foundation.
1
Helen Clapesattle* The Doctors Mayo (Minneapolis:
The University of Minnesota Press* 19^1)* p. 505*
(2) The Foundation is the largest and most
influential center for graduate medical
education, and provides:
(a) Research in the basic medical sciences.
(b) Staff for the Clinic, and for univer
sities.
(c) Improved and advanced procedures for
use in the Clinic.
c. Instructor to trace the path of:
(1) The medical patient.
(2) The surgical patient through the Clinic.
Student tour of the departments of the Alameda
County Hospital.
Students to request information on public health and
medical care by mall.
a. From city or county health officer of student’s
home town, the annual report of the Health
Officer.
b. Information concerning three ©roup Health Flans,
e.g., Blue Cross, California Physicians Service,
etc.
e. From State Health Officers of Kansas and Okla
homa: information as to recent advances in the
173
means of supplying good medical care to rural
areas.
5. Description of the activities of the Sonoma County
Health Department (by the Health Officer); and stu
dent tour of the divisions of the Department.
6. The evolution of modern medicine.
a. Instructor to trace briefly that:
(1) During the seventeenth and eighteenth cen
turies there was a shift in responsibility
from Church to State* for the care of the
sick* poor and aged.
(2) During the Industrial Revolution:
(a) Human welfare was largely forgotten.
(b) Medical training was by apprenticeship.
(c) Diseases not considered distinct en
titles.
(3) About 1850, social reaction against abuse
of laboring class in England (led by E.
Chadwick* Robert Owen* J. S. Mill* and
others).
|%) There was the "Golden Era" ©f Bacteriology,
during the last half of the nineteenth
century, but a "backward" practice of
Medicine.
174
(5) About 1900, Medicine began to utilize ad
vances made in basic sciences.
(a) In 1913> a patient with heart condi
tion admitted to hospital, saw prob
ably three staff members; today, he
would see probably thirty staff mem
bers.
7. Class discussion of the "Nine Goals of Health1 1 in
"The Nation*s Health.”
8* Class consideration of the cost of medical care in
relation to:
a. Inequality of purchasing power.
(1) Income of lower third, economically, of
United States families is only about 11 per
2
cent of total lneome.
(2) Fewer than 75>000 people, i.e., about one-
two-thousandths of the population, own
one-half of all the corporate stock.
2
J. J. Hanlon, "Public Health, the Private
Physician, and Medical Care," Principles of Public
Health Administration (St. Louis: The C. V. Mosby
Company, 1950), p. 4?1.
s 1 3
Ibid., p. 472; citing Securities and Exchange
CommissionStudy of 1937*
175
C3) llstrlbution of physicians.
/
(a) In the Pacific states, with a per
capita income of some $1300, there is
one physician to every 750 people.
(b) In the west, sooth and central states,
with a per capital income of $425*
there is one physician for every 1250
people.
(e) Where there is low economic income,
there are many reasons for more sick
ness.
(4) The fact that, in spite of a lack of treat
ment and self-treatment, low Income groops
spend a greater per cent of their ineomes
(71 per cent for incomes under $500, as
compared to 3*6 per cent for those in the
$5,000 to $10,000 Income group).
9* A study of two or three compulsory health insurance
programs.
a. Such programs now exist in some thirty countries.
* Ibid.j PP* 472-473.
5
Ibid., p. 476; citing National Resources
Planning Board, Family Expenditure in the United States
(Washington, B.C.: United States Government Printing
Office, 1941), p. 5.
176
b. The results of increased industrialization are
especially to be observed.
1©• Student to outline types of tax-supported medical
care which are now in existence in the United
States.
llr Glass discussion to develop a summary of the advan
tages and disadvantages of a tax-supported plan of
medical care for the United States.
12. The probability of "nationalization" of medleal
care in the United States.
a. Class consideration of the statement that "some
form of nationwide, tax-supported, comprehensive
medical care will eventually be developed and
put into effect in the United States."
(1) In Germany, England, France, and many other
countries:
(a) Increased industrialization Increased
the need because it Increased the
social insecurity of growing numbers
V of people.
(b) Under the pressure of industrializa
tion, the working class organized
militant political parties.
177
(c) Might some such plan be established In
the United States?
(d) The view Is generally accepted that
the benefits of medicine should be
available to all people.
4
13. The possibility of community .autonomy in the event
. 1 .
of nationalized medical care.
a. Class discussion as to how a nationwide plan
could be best operated, on the principle of com
munity autonomy.
178
REFERENCE WORKS
American Public Health Association, Committee on Ad
ministrative Practice, "Preliminary Report on
National Program for Medical Care,'1 American
Journal of Public Health, Vol. pT 984, 19W.
Bradbury, S., Cost of Adequate Medical Care. Chicago:
University of CHicago Press, 193t*
Clapesattle, H., The Doctors Mayo. Minneapolis: The
University of Minnesota Press, 19^1•
Falk, I. S., and others, The Indldences of Illness
and the Receipt and Costs of MedlcaT~ Care among
Representative Families, C. C. M. C. Publication
l(o. 2b. Chicago: University of Chicago Press,
1933-
* Medical Care for-the American People: the
~FTnaT~Report~oT~tKe~Committee on tHe Costs of
Medical Care. Chicago: University of Chicago
Press, 1032.
Gladston, I., editor, Social Medicine. New York: The
Commonwealth Fund, 1949.
Hanlon, J. J., Principles of Public Health Administra
tion. St. Louis: C.T. Mosby Company, I95G*
Lee, R. I.-, and L. W. Jones, The Fundamentals of Good
Medical Care. Chicago: The Universityof”
Chicago Press, 1933.
Miller, H. A., Sickness and Insurance. Chicago: The
University of Chicago Press, 1937*
17 9
President's Commission on the Health Needs of the
Nation, "Medical Care for All: New Plan," from
United States New and Vorld Report, December 26,
15527-PP. ■ " 7 7 - - 8 S : ------—------
Robinson, G. C., The Patient as a Person. New York:
The Commonwealth Fund, 1559*
Smillie, W. G., Preventlye Medicine and Pnblle Health.
New York: The Macmillan Company, 1947 •
PART THREE
EVALUATION
CHAPTER XII
SOME PROPOSALS REGARDING EVALUATION
Evaluation involves, in part, the effort to esti
mate how far the student has advanced toward achieving
the goals set up for the course. Very often evaluation
is not carried beyond grades, which are largely estimates
of the relative achievements of the several students.
However, as Watson suggests, there should be an effort
to evaluate courses.
. . . This is a much bigger matter, for we are
appraising not only the students, but also
ourselves— our plan of operation and its execu
tion. Such evaluation, made as specific as
possible, shows us shortcomings and allows us
to make alterations (we hope, improvements),
for the next presentation.*
j -
Watson advises further: (1) that effort be made
to know behavior of students, with respect to objectives
of the course, at the beginning of the course as well as
observable changes in student reaction at the end of the
course; (2) that there should constantly be formulation
. i
J. B. Cohen and P. G. Watson, editors. General
Education in Science (Cambridge: Harvard University
Press, 1&51&T, pp. 205-206.
2 Ibid., pp. 209-216.
of situations (e.g., having the student write a paper
about material read, to show understanding and atti
tudes) from which evaluations can be made; (3) that the
items of objective tests be validated by comparison of
responses of students ranking In upper and lowest quar-
tlle scores made on the test; and (4) that questionnaires
filled out by students at the end of the course can have
some validity for evaluative purposes.
It was noted In the second chapter of this study
that adequate evaluation devices are still lacking for
such areas as student attitudes. However, many of the
suggestions of that section of this study, as well as
procedures outlined just above, can aid in more accurate
i
evaluation.
There has been need for an increased awareness
that:
1. The needs of the student (as related to him
self, his community, and the whole of society)
should be the subject of continuous study;
for these needs should be the basis for the
curriculum.
2. There are many more ways for evaluating
whether these needs are being met than are
usually being used.
It Is believed that there Is great need for
further study of the student, his environment, and the
social trends of our times. Perhaps one of the few
curricular matters about which the writer holds a rather
high degree of certainty is that there should be no
standard curriculum— especially is there nothing sacred
about the course outlined in this paper.
university of Southern California UDfei,

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Asset Metadata

Creator Nixon, Ellis W. (author)

Core Title A course in human biology for Santa Rosa Junior College.

School School of Education

Degree Master of Science

Degree Program Education

Degree Conferral Date 1953-08

Publisher University of Southern California (original), University of Southern California. Libraries (digital)

Tag education, community college,education, sciences,OAI-PMH Harvest

Language English

Contributor Digitized by ProQuest (provenance)

Advisor Olson, Myron S. (committee chair)

Permanent Link (DOI) https://doi.org/10.25549/usctheses-c24-182010

Unique identifier UC11273073

Identifier EP47608.pdf (filename),usctheses-c24-182010 (legacy record id)

Legacy Identifier EP47608.pdf

Dmrecord 182010

Document Type Thesis

Rights Nixon, Ellis W.

Type texts

Source University of Southern California (contributing entity), University of Southern California Dissertations and Theses (collection)

Access Conditions The author retains rights to his/her dissertation, thesis or other graduate work according to U.S. copyright law. Electronic access is being provided by the USC Libraries in agreement with the au...

Repository Name University of Southern California Digital Library

Repository Location USC Digital Library, University of Southern California, University Park Campus, Los Angeles, California 90089, USA